Dear Editor,
The press reported that the Dr Doobay hospital at Annandale, East Coast, Demerara was planning to reduce fees for dialysis. Internet searches made me know that there was a hospital in Annandale with a renal centre. Such a centre cannot be active without the approval of the Ministry of Health and clearly the government did not withhold its approval
I want to join the hundreds who have already publicly recognised the initiative and the humane concerns of this physician already known in and out of Guyana.
The Renal Unit is special, because it brings a specialist service to the rural areas in one part of Guyana. There have been the sugar estate hospitals and the bauxite company’s hospital in Mackenzie. There had been private hospitals associated with the names of Dr Bailey, Dr Frank Williams and Dr Balwant Singh, who founded a medical lab, and with the Roman Catholic and the Seventh Day Adventist denominations. There was Dr JE Ramdeholl’s hospital building in Buxton- Friendship which was never activated, because of World War II hostilities. The closest examples of specialist hospitals in rural areas were perhaps the one for Hansen’s disease in Unity, the Mental Hospital in Canje, Berbice, and the Tuberculosis hospital at Best, West Coast, Demerara. I hope that readers will supply any missing names.
Needing a life-saving procedure and having no access to a facility providing it, or being unable to afford it is one of the most severe torments affecting health and the sense of well-being.
The Annandale Renal Centre will not cope with the entire demand, but it has brought relief on a scale that cannot be ignored. Most important, it is an example of international cooperation between non-state persons and institutions that can be engaged and embraced for similar purposes. It is perhaps not the only case, but it stands out as an example, at a time of high awareness of renal failure. It also shows what Guyanese professionals can achieve if encouraged.
This is what a non-Hindu Guyanese woman writes about him an email:
“I believe it is a tireless doctor called Budhindranauth Doobay in Toronto. He was honoured at UWI’s Gala for Excellence and I met him earlier this year; very active in his Mandir here and has done all kinds of work in Toronto as well in Guyana. He seems indefatigable and an inspiration.”
I gladly include it with her consent from one who has seen him in action at close range. Dr Doobay received his early primary schooling at Buxton Arundel Congregational School while his family lived in neighbouring Annandale. His father was not a doctor, but an erudite and eminent Pandit, who in June, 1963 took a public stand in favour of easing tensions among the races of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Eusi Kwayana
