Dear Editor,
I went to the Anna Regina health centre to have my regular medical check-up on Wednesday 7th February 2018 about 9 am, but the centre was so packed with patients that I went away. I then decided to go to Abrams health centre which is about 10 miles away. On arriving there I saw two good nurses, but my biggest problem was to get into the health centre since it had no ramp for wheelchair patients. The nurses came out to meet me, and both of them decided to lift me on my wheelchair into the building. The door is small so they had a rough time to get it in; anyhow they did manage it in circumstances where there was no porter working, only a cleaner with them.
When I went to the patients’ cubicle, it was also small, so both of them decided to hoist me onto the bed. They then checked me from head to toe and carried me back into my car.
I later learnt that one of these nurses was a midwife who lives at Johanna Cecilia on the Essequibo Coast, some eight miles from the health centre where she works. The other one lives at Queenstown some eight miles away too, and they travel by car every day to go to work. They have to pay a fee of $800.00 each day out of their salary. The midwife told me she sometimes works in the theatre at Suddie Hospital to help deliver babies, and at night she is on call and has to deliver babies in Onderneeming, some 20 miles away from home. Her husband who has a car will take her to the place where the baby is to be delivered.
To get to the destination by car is dangerous, but her husband will take the chances for both he and his wife love their jobs, and he has never charged patients a cent for the car. The midwife told me that in all her 15 years on the job no baby ever died in delivery. The other nurse is also a community nurse and she too is on 24/7 call to attend to patients. She told me that she loves her work and would go out of her way to help people.
There are many health centres in Region Two but none of the nurses there can surpass these two nurses. I think they deserve an honour for their dedication to the job. I hope the ministry will give them what they deserve.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
