There is a sickness that is pervading our local health services. The symptoms range from offhand behaviour by those who appear to have mild cases of it to downright callousness by those who are very ill.
It is quite possible that it is contagious, as it now seems to be becoming more widespread. This disease has been present for quite a while here and there in the health sector, and though complaints had been made about it, there was almost a clandestine approach to dealing with it which may have given the impression that the powers that be were not interested in eradicating it.
Over the years, there have been complaints raised about the quality of service provided at medical institutions – both public and private hospitals, health centres and clinics. While in the past, the inadequacy of care provided was a result of a lack of the necessary resources, in more recent times, the majority of instances were because of poor attitudes and a deficiency of professionalism.
Officialdom’s response was typically a closing of ranks and an attempt to explain away the muck-up. Even when poor attention to duty resulted in the death of someone, as Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy admitted to this newspaper last week, while the person/s responsible were disciplined, it was done quietly, and he was not satisfied that they had been disciplined “to the extent that they needed to.”
This is probably the reason why the sickness festered to the extent that it has now become an oozing sore – the punishment has never matched the severity of the transgression. The current appalling situation would probably never have arisen had this been done. Charlene Amsterdam, Yogeeta Bisram, Esther Dwarka-Bowlin, Rebekha Chinamootoo, Nadira Sammy, Savitri De Barros and others would probably still be alive today. But even if they were not, their deaths would have been acceptable had they expired while being given the best possible care. The broken arm of Carlecia Adams’s son would have been set before she even noticed it, and she would have been given an explanation as to how and why it occurred and if necessary an apology.
While it is admirable that the Cabinet summoned officials at the Skeldon Hospital to explain the maternal deaths that occurred there, and an investigation is/was being conducted, this is a knee-jerk reaction and tantamount to putting a band aid on an ulcer. Surely it is obvious to the Cabinet by now that the reports of arrogance and the don’t-give-a-damn attitude do not just emanate from Skeldon. Is there a reason then that the officials at the New Amsterdam and Georgetown Public hospitals have not been summoned as well? The underlying cause of health workers’ apathy towards their jobs is what should be investigated instead, and a diagnosis made and treatment prescribed. In fact, a general review of the local health system is long overdue. This is what Cabinet should be addressing: what it needs to conduct is a forensic audit of the health sector and the way forward after this is completed.
