Dear Editor,
I am writing to share the cursing that I, a member of the public received recently from Mr. Bheri Ramsaran, current Minister of Health and PPP party member on the list for the upcoming general elections. The incident occurred on April 20th, in Whim, Berbice, outside the Magistrate’s court, in the presence of a Guyana Times reporter who was interviewing Mr. Ramsaran at the time and in close proximity to numerous police, lawyers, and other members of the public.
I had gone to Whim to support Mr. Christopher Ram in his court case against former President Bharrat Jagdeo. I admire Mr. Ram for having the courage to take on the racial hatemongering of Mr. Jagdeo. This is a historic case for Guyana, in my opinion, and should inspire more Guyanese, I hope, to confront the abuses of those in positions of power.
After Mr. Jagdeo’s lawyers tried in vain to get the Magistrate to throw out the case, we exited the courtroom to see a crowd of PPP supporters massed outside. PPP party loyalists had been told to assemble there, but instead of coming on their own, most appeared to have been bussed and trucked in; vehicles with PPP campaign posters were parked nearby and people seen climbing in and being driven away after standing and shouting at Mr. Ram for a little while. We were not fazed; this was to be expected. What I didn’t expect, however, was to see Mr. Bheri Ramsaran, among the heckling crowd. This was a little after 10 o clock on a Monday morning; surely I thought, the Minister of Health had other more serious business to attend to.
Last Monday around this same time, I had stood outside the Ministry of Health with two families whose previously healthy young children had died after incompetent treatment by the staff of the Georgetown Public Hospital. Five year old Jaden Mars had been taken to the hospital after he fell and bit his tongue. The wound was less than 1cm but he was his mother’s first child, the apple of everyone’s eye, and received an overabundance of care all the time. At GPHC, Jaden was given multiple doses of Ketamine. He died several days later, never regaining consciousness. Akeela Benons was a bubbly three year old who developed a fever this past Mash Day. At GPHC, she received several doses of Valium and died days later, also never regaining consciousness.
Everybody makes mistakes, yes, but in the healthcare setting, mistakes have serious consequences. Many families, like those of Jaden Mars and Akeela Benons, have lost loved ones under suspicious circumstances, due to unsatisfactory and incompetent treatment from staff in the public health sector in Guyana. When these grieving families seek answers about the untimely and unforeseen deaths of their loved ones, they are ignored, given the run around, and abused even further by the authorities who are unwilling to expose or prosecute their and their colleagues’ wrongdoings.
Last Monday, the families of Jaden Mars and Akeela Benons, including Akeela’s 75 year old great-grandmother, stood for over two hours in the hot sun outside the Ministry of Health where Bheri Ramsaran’s office is located. We were ignored as we have been every other time we’ve picketed there. Nobody came out of the compound to talk with us, except for a security guard who told us that the Minister would be vexed, that he didn’t like people picketing there.
So when I saw Mr. Ramsaran outside the Whim courthouse on April 20th, I was seized by a burning desire to talk to him. I wanted to know why he was there heckling people, instead of working to ensure that his staff were properly trained, that better systems were implemented in the public health setting to reduce deadly errors by his staff, that grieving families got answers to their questions, that incompetent and uncaring staff be dealt with, and that justice and accountability be provided to all victims of medical malpractice in Guyana.
Elections are around the corner and Mr. Ramsaran is on the PPP list of candidates. This, he told me, is what justified his presence at Whim. I still didn’t understand however. There is still essential work to do in the meantime, I pointed out, highlighting the fact that unacceptable numbers of women and children are dying at the public health facilities all around Guyana. I reminded Mr Ramsaran that as a citizen, my tax dollars are being used to pay his salary and I was unsatisfied with his performance. Minister Ramsaran’s response then was to curse me. “F… off,” he yelled at me. “Get out of my face. You’re a little piece of shit.” The hostility rolled off him in waves.
I have never been cursed in such a manner before in all my life, and by a Minister of government at that. I was truly taken aback. All I was trying to do was get some answers to what I believe are legitimate issues, from a public official, in a public setting. This is election time and we the citizens of Guyana are being encouraged to engage with the politicians, to ask questions, and to share our ideas and views with them. It seems as if this cannot be done in a civil manner in Guyana and that only those who do not challenge the status quo are acceptable. It is truly a sad state of affairs we are in when ex-presidents, current ministers of government, and others holding positions of authority feel free to spew racist rhetoric, encourage hatemongering, curse and abuse the citizens of the nation, instead of calmly, rationally, and respectfully engaging with them. I would like to tell my fellow Guyanese to not be intimidated however, and to encourage them to speak their minds and engage with public officials. Remember and feel free to remind them that they are servants of we, the people, and that we have a right to know how our tax dollars are being used, to criticize them if we are unsatisfied with their job performance, and to demand better treatment, services, and accountability from them all. As citizens we deserve better.
Yours faithfully,
Sherlina Nageer, MPH