Some are more equal than others

Jun 17, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The death of Beyoncé Ross, a national schools’ cycling champion has spiraled into a debate as to whether Guyana’s political rulers should enjoy superior medical attention from that enjoyed by the average citizen. It is a debate about how equal is our society and whether some are more equal than others.
Beyoncé Ross was a young teenager who had won gold medals at the National Schools’ Championships. After she began complaining about migraines, she was initially treated for a stomach ailment by local medical personnel. But after the headaches continued, tests revealed that she had a tumour, located in the middle of her brain.
Her parents’ hopes for her recovery were buoyed when a biopsy revealed that the tumour was not cancerous. But before any further plans for treatment could have been made, she had a seizure and lost consciousness from which she never recovered.
One local doctor had indicated that the high-risk surgery could not have been done locally and that her prognosis was very poor. It is possible that perhaps the surgery could have been done overseas, but that would have been a high-risk intervention. But it is an intervention which the parents may have been willing to take, since it was her only chance of recovery.
Many members of the public have been outraged that arrangements were not made by the government to have Beyoncé Ross treated overseas. It is doubtful, of course, whether the timelines would have allowed for this given her fatal seizure.
What has created angst, however, is that a Minister of the government, who has been in and out of a local hospital in recent months, is to be sent overseas for treatment. Obviously the medical conditions are not the same, but coming concurrent with the illness of Beyoncé Ross, it has led many persons to accuse the government of having two sets of medical standards, one for the Ministers and one for the average citizen.
It is a moot point, because those higher up in the organizational ladder are always going to enjoy higher benefits. So how does one deal with this problem in which Ministers are afforded overseas medical treatment while a young teenager, in the prime of her life, has to settle for the fact that surgery which may have saved her life was not available locally?
It is not a simple issue. When a person becomes a Minister or a President, it is to be expected that they would enjoy certain benefits, including top-class medical care. But how does one reconcile this with the concern that the average citizen has to settle for second-class medical care locally.
The best answer is that while all are equal, some are more equal than others. But that is not something that is going to be receptive to the public. The average citizen would like to delude himself or herself into believing that what is good for the Kings and Queens are good for the plebeians.
Guyana cannot undertake the surgical intervention which was required by Beyoncé Ross. Whether it can undertake the sort of interventions required by those Ministers who are going overseas for treatment is another issue.
The answer is to look towards creating the possibility of Guyanese having certain specialized tertiary medical care right here locally. The PPPC when it was in office had recognized that there was a need for certain specialty medical services. It even calculated that it could make money from what is known as medical tourism, in which persons from overseas can come and undergo operations here and pay for the service. The benefit to the nation would be that it would also allow nationals to enjoy certain medical procedures which were not available locally.
This is why the PPPC came up with the idea of a specialty hospital, which would offer specialist and top-level medical services not available within the public health system. Persons would have had to pay, but the government would have assisted those who could not afford. It is not everyone who goes to the hospital who would be in need of such interventions.
The Government of India had committed funds to build this hospital. The Government of Guyana had set aside land for the venture. The APNU+AFC, coalition however, when it came into office reversed this decision, opting instead to use the monies from India to upgrade local hospitals, the same local hospitals which initially misdiagnosed Beyoncé Ross, and which cannot provide the specialist care which is now needed by a Minister of the Government.
Perhaps if the specialty hospital had been established, it would have been able to offer Beyoncé Ross a chance at life. Just perhaps! It may have also not required that Minister having to go overseas. Just perhaps!

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