The 68-year-old doctor, better known as M Y Bacchus, died of a massive heart attack even as preparations were in place for him to leave Guyana today for surgery.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Woodlands, Dr Neville Gobin told Stabroek News that he received a call at around 3 am yesterday that Dr Bacchus had gone into cardiac arrest and when he got to the hospital there was nothing they could do.
He said on Wednesday he spent about 15 minutes speaking to Dr Bacchus and he had seemed okay and was prepared for the trip yesterday so it came as a shock that he died.
Revealing that Dr Bacchus was associated with Wood-lands for the past 30 years, Dr Gobin described him as one of the best gynaecologists in the country and said his passing would leave a void that would be difficult to fill. He said the late doctor would also be missed by the University of Guyana as he had lectured to the medical students for years.
Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy said he was saddened at the passing of Dr Bacchus who has been a veteran physician in Guyana and a leading gynaecologist.
“He has served both the public and the private sector with great diligence. I think the medical profession has lost a real asset because besides the service that he provided he also served as an administrator in the sense that he was a medical council member for many years and chair of the medical council,” Dr Ramsammy said.
The minister said that Dr Bacchus’s advice was very valuable to him and as such for him “it’s an asset we have lost in Dr Bacchus.”
“Dr Bacchus was a stalwart of medicine in Guyana, highly principled and a very good human being,” was how Chairman of the Medical Council of Guyana, Dr Galton Roberts described him.
Speaking on behalf of the council and also as a good friend, Dr Roberts recalled that Dr Bacchus spent most of his professional life in the public service and during that time and afterwards he was always involved in medical education in Guyana. Dr Roberts said that the late doctor profoundly touched the lives of many doctors, including his.
“He was always there to encourage, support and assist when necessary,” he said adding that Dr Bacchus’s four-year stint as the head of the medical council “brought a period of calm to the medical community where with his reasoned, disciplined approach he was able to deal with many thorny issues that plagued the medical fraternity.” He said the number of patients’ lives the late doctor touched could not be counted.
“He was a true son of Guyana and he shall be surely missed,” he said.
Dr Bacchus, a father of five, was yesterday described by his staff members as a man who was “down to earth” and always willing to help those who were unable to pay for the medical attention he gave them.
At his New Market Street office yesterday, his employees, one of whom had worked with him for the last 15 years, sat with dazed expressions on their faces as they contemplated their future and reminisced on the years they shared with the doctor.
Many patients turned up at the office yesterday and on being told that the doctor had passed on some burst into tears as they offered condolences to the staff members.
“Is it true? Is it really true? I can’t believe it,” one woman said, tears rolling down her cheeks, when she was told of the doctor’s passing.
Anestha Crawford, who had worked with the doctor for the last 15 years, described her boss’s death as being “very traumatising” even as she added “he was such a funny person, I have learnt so much working with him.”
Her colleagues, Annemarie Peters and Odetta Melville who have worked with the doctor for six years and one year respectively, joined Anestha in eulogising the late doctor.
Marcia Rajroop, a former employee who was also at the office yesterday, said: “Working here with doctor make me a very strong person.”
“He would look at a patient and their pockets and sometimes send them away without them paying him after he had treated them,” Anestha said.
The other employees recalled that he was a “very down to earth person” and he did not do what he did best just for money but rather for the love of it. Some of the employees recalled that whenever school was about to open Dr Bacchus would take money out of his pocket and give to them to purchase uniforms for their children.
Dr Bacchus, who at the time of his death was also lecturing medical students at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), had patients from all around Guyana many of whom would flock his office on a daily basis for treatment.
Meanwhile, Edward Bacchus, a cousin of the doctor who was also at the office, recalled that he was very helpful and generous and very dedicated to his patients. “He was a person who was always there for his patients,” his cousin recalled while disclosing that Dr Bacchus held a free clinic every other week at the Peter’s Hall Masjid where he not only saw patients but also gave them free medication.
Dr Bacchus will be buried today according to Muslim rights.
