Dear Editor,
As one of the many voices who called on President Ramotar to rid his Cabinet of Dr. Bheri Ramsaran as Guyana’s Minister of Health, it is appropriate for me to use this same medium to thank the President for so doing. Some are already complaining that it took too long and that it might not have been done but for the upcoming elections. Those complaints might diminish the form but yet, the substance is real. He is out. Dr. Ramsaran’s seniority and strength in the PPP is not to be under-estimated, and sensing how the PPP hierarchy operates, it must have been a tough decision for President Ramotar to execute.
Some cynics are also saying that Dr. Ramsaran will be back, through the back door. I do not believe that. I do not know President Ramotar well but on the one occasion when I had an extended conversation with him, by phone, about my preference for a PPP presidential candidate, I found him to be forthright and upstanding. I do not believe that he will trick the Guyanese nation over Dr. Ramsaran.
I know Dr. Ramsaran a little better. I had the opportunity to work with him for a week in the year 2000 when I took a neuro-surgical team to Georgetown to help the Kids First Fund treat children with hydrocephalus. Dr. Ramsaran was assigned to us as the local surgeon whom our neuro-surgeon was to train to perform ventriculo-peritoneal shunting after we left. I found him pleasant and collegial. We took equipment, shunts and supplies to treat twelve children. We saw seven. As I recall, one child was not a candidate for surgery; one had to be deferred because of a concurrent infection; and the team operated on five. Dr. Ramsaran was trained in the time honoured way: observe one; assistant surgeon on the next; surgeon on the next few cases with the consultant neurosurgeon over his shoulders.
I was not in the operating room but got detailed briefings from our surgical team on how each procedure went. I was told that Dr. Ramsaran had good surgical skills, was a quick learner and observed all surgical protocols including the very impressive surgical hygiene demanded by the local operating room supervisor. At the end of the week, we felt that it was safe for us to leave the unused equipment and supplies for seven more cases for future patients. We felt that Dr. Ramsaran was competent to help children with hydrocephalus. He went into active politics sometime later and I don’t know if he has done any since.
The point of this is that Dr. Ramsaran has the skills to redeem himself. I heard from Ms. Varshnie Singh of Kids First a few weeks ago that there were three cases of hydrocephalus pending. I don’t know if they have been treated yet but if not, there is a golden opportunity for him to redeem himself, at least in my eyes, if he so desires. But first, I believe that the Medical Council of Guyana should require him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and be treated if necessary; and secondly, for him to have his surgical techniques refreshed as the Council deems appropriate.
My last point is that the rest of us should never jump on someone when he or she is down. We will all taste mud sooner or later.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh.
