Just over a week ago, totally in keeping with the intemperate behaviour that has come to characterise this current administration, Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy chose a public forum to angrily inform the representatives of international organizations based here that they had used wrong data which was not tabulated locally, and which “disrespected” the country and undermined the efforts of local health workers.
Dr Ramsammy, almost shouting, during an address to open a two-day meeting on maternal and child health at the Regency Hotel, let the agencies know just how unfair and disrespectful they were. He was on a roll.
Of course, the Minister had the media to play up to. He was sure his ‘speech,’ which no doubt would have embarrassed the agencies he specifically referred to – PAHO/WHO, UNFPA AND UNICEF – would get out there. It must not have occurred to him that he, too, was being not just unfair and disrespectful, but downright ‘ornery’ over a matter which he could have addressed from his desk, using his telephone. Minister Ramsammy must not have noticed too that all of the organizations he referred to employ Guyanese at various levels – often recommended by the Ministry of Health or their relevant local partner agency. His sounding off was not because the incorrectly tabulated data which reportedly raised his ire had only just been placed before him, and his ‘Oscar-like’ performance might not have been totally unrehearsed.
Our story on the issue said that the Minister’s comments were prompted by PAHO/WHO Country Representative Dr Beverley Barnett’s reference to a 2007 report, which said Guyana was unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the health sector. The minister ranted and raved over a figure said to be contained in the report that “470 women had died in childbirth.” He said afterwards that he had addressed the issue before with the agencies, but that it kept popping up and that “at a forum like this, then as the Minister of Health of this country I can’t stay quiet.”
Minister Ramsammy pointed out that in 1991, 57 women died in Guyana and it worked out to a rate of 32 per every 10,000 deliveries. In 2009, he said, the rate was “eight point something,” which placed the country on track to achieve the fifth MDG, which calls for a reduction in the maternal mortality rate by ¾ by 2015 as well as universal access to reproductive health for all women.
We are four years away from the MDGs deadline and while in 2009 it looked like Guyana was on track with part of MDG 5, last year’s maternal deaths certainly put a spoke in that wheel. But then there is the second part of the goal. Would the Minister care to say how Guyana is really doing in terms of universal access to ante-natal care, safe delivery and post-natal care when so many hospitals must still refer patients to Georgetown because of the lack of capacity? Does he have the data on how many women in rural, riverain and hinterland areas actually have access to family planning services, programmes aimed at curbing teen and adolescent pregnancies and ante-natal care?
If he does, and if those systems are in place and working then Minister Ramsammy’s indignation is well placed.
However, he must bear the brunt of our collective indignation at the delay in releasing the report into the investigations of last year’s maternal deaths. Where is the report you said would be more realistic to release early this year, Mr Minister? The relatives of those dead women want accountability. They want to know who or what was responsible; whether there was a common denominator or whether it was just a series of unfortunate events. The public wants to know also, along with what has been done since to ensure that 2011 will not see more of the same. Or must the relatives of the dead women begin to rant and rave at the disrespect and unfair treatment?
Dr Ramsammy is on his last legs as Minister of Health, whether his party wins or loses. Like any politician, his aim will be to leave on a high note, rather than slink out in ignominy. This is understandable, but at the same time he must do the right thing.
