Caleb Cloggan was six months into his studies to become a medical doctor when his mother died suddenly in her sleep, two days after she was diagnosed with diabetes. He did not know it then, but her death later triggered his interest in endocrinology and was the catalyst to him becoming an endocrinologist.
Dr Cloggan will soon return home from Cuba and he is bursting with plans to change policies and improve how patients with diabetes and other illnesses that fall under his specialty are dealt with.
Endocrinologists are specialist doctors who diagnose and treat conditions like diabetes, thyroid diseases, infertility, growth issues, metabolic disorders, osteoporosis, some cancers, and disorders in the hormone-producing adrenal glands and pituitary glands.
The journey to where he is today was literally and figuratively walked with sweat and tears, but looking back he said if he had to do it all over again the only thing he would change is ensuring his mother lived to see her son in his white doctor’s coat. While he lost his mom six months into his studies, he lost his father to prostate cancer six months before his graduation and so it was a bittersweet moment when he finally returned with his medical degree.
Soon after he started practicing, Cloggan knew what he wanted to specialize in and he fought tooth and nail to ensure he was granted the needed scholarship. Turned down multiple times, he took to sitting in the foyer of the Ministry of Health daily while Volda Lawrence was minister, until he got her attention and was finally granted that coveted scholarship in 2018.
Dr Cloggan said he could name about 100 diseases that fall under endocrinology, but the main ones are diabetes, thyroid disorders, infertility and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in women. PCOS, he said, is very prevalent in Guyana but is not given the attention needed.
“It is something that I have been passionate about because why? First of all my mom died a diabetic without even knowing it. She knew she was a diabetic a day or two before she passed away and she passed away in her sleep,” he told Stabroek Weekend via zoom recently. His mother was just 52 at the time of her death.
He said when it was discovered that her blood sugar was high, she started to feel bad and “she just went home and slept and she never woke up back”.
His mother died in June of 2008 and her death, he said, became one of his main motivations behind his specialisation and also the fact, according to his figures, that diabetes actually affects some 18% of the country’s population. According to the World Diabetes Foundation, Guyana has a prevalence rate of 14% among the adult population, which is the highest in South America. It is expected to rise to 17.9% by 2030. He also pointed out that amputation as a result of complications from diabetes is one of the leading causes of non-traumatic amputations in the world.
When talking about the diseases that encompasses endocrinology, Dr Cloggan becomes very animated and his passion is almost tangible as he expounds on the need for his specialty and encourages others to follow in his footsteps.
Importantly, he pointed out that Guyana does not have any policy for the early detection and management of diabetes, something he said he has been working tirelessly to change. Since he started his specialisation studies, Dr Cloggan said, he has been doing online consultations and now has over 500 patients, most of whom he assists pro bono. He is currently managing some 570 patients who come from Jamaica, Belize, South Africa, America and being bilingual he also sees patients from Nicaragua, but the bulk of them are from Guyana, followed by Trinidad, the US and then Jamaica. There are also doctors who do inter-consults with him and all of this helped him during his studies.
Insufficient
Returning to Guyana as a young doctor, Cloggan said he felt insufficient as not being a specialist meant he was unable to assist patients with certain conditions even though he felt competent and he is now counting on Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony to put systems in place so he can really put his specialisation to use and be an asset to those in need of his services.
Previously he worked in internal medicine at the Georgetown Public Hospital and the West Demerara Regional Hospital and he found it amazing that every patient on the ward had some issue with either their blood sugar, excess breast milk production (when they were not pregnant or breastfeeding), infertility or osteoporosis, but at that point while he was continuously studying and had some knowledge he did not have the ability he has right now.
“I am seeing things in a different way right now… I am just better equipped right now,” he said, holding his head in both hands.
He said he could not wait to return home as he knows he has so much to offer to Guyana and he can make so many changes.
He recalled that he had written to Lawrence about four times on the specialty. “I wrote to her 15-page letters telling her we need this, we don’t have this specialty, look at the prevalence of diabetes, look at the prevalence of infertility… She didn’t reply,” he recalled.
“I applied four times, four times and if we have 1,000 doctors in Guyana I am in the top 99.999% in terms of GPA. I graduated at pre grad with honours, with distinction, a perfect score so that alone can tell you I love what I do. And I love endocrinology,” he said.
After not being granted the scholarship nor receiving responses from the then minister, the persistent Cloggan said he took leave and went and sat in the minister’s foyer every day for two weeks.
“I sat on that sofa for two weeks and she kept passing me, passing me. I would greet her every day. I would get up and say, Ms Lawrence I really need to speak to you. I really need for you to follow up on my scholarship. I really need for you to assist me. And one day she decided, ‘I ain’t able no more’ and she actually put me on to Mr John Adams and they did the letter and I finally got the scholarship,” the smiling doctor said.
While he had the opportunity to study online, he said it could not be compared to him studying at the National Endocrinology Institute of Havana, in Cuba, which he said is one of the best in Latin America and the Caribbean.
He described it as a “miracle” to help people to pro-create and shared screenshots of messages from patients who thanked him for his assistance and included his name in the names of their babies.
He plans to collaborate with the head of the depart-ment at the institute to offer services that are not currently available in Guyana. While he plans to open a private clinic on his return, as some patients may not be able to visit the hospital during working hours, he encouraged people not to be dissuaded by a lack of funds as he will continue to see patients who cannot afford it, pro bono.
He believes he would return to GPH as his specialty requires a lot of lab work that is not available at all the hospitals.
Withdraw
A bank teller initially, Cloggan said he was pursuing a degree in the social sciences with the aim of moving on to either law or medicine, when he was forced to with-draw from university because of financial constraints. He had to choose between the job and his studies.
Chronicling his journey to becoming a doctor, Cloggan, who grew up between Stewartville, West Coast Demerara and Farm, East Bank Demerara, as his parents were separated, attended Leonora Secondary School and Queen’s College and wrote CXC at both schools, earning passes in 13 subjects.
After withdrawing from the University of Guyana, he later applied for a scholarship to study medicine in Cuba and he was successful.
“I went there and I did excellent, thanks to God. It wasn’t easy because during my journey, as I said, I lost both parents…,” he noted.
Speaking of his parents’ deaths, especially his mom’s, the father of three became emotional. He recalled that when he initially left for Cuba, he always dreamt of his mom waiting at the airport to accept him when he got back. He noted that while he was close to his dad, his mom was so ecstatic when he got the scholarship, he just imagined her hugging him on his return.
“She was one of the sweetest, one of the nicest persons. I think that’s why I am so great with my patients. I am actually a reflection of her personality, how she speaks, how she greets people and everything,” he said of his late mother.
He still gets goosebumps thinking of that hug that never happened and the day he returned and saw others being greeted, but he did not have his mom or anyone to greet him and “it hit home”.
One of five children, he recalled when he was told his mother died he had to be sedated for 24 hours because he was so broken up with grief.
Having experienced the deaths of both parents, Dr Cloggan would like to see more policies developed that encompass a more preventative and proactive approach to medicine in Guyana, including people getting screened early.
“And that’s what I am going to do. I am going to sit down, work along with the necessary stakeholders. I am going to show them, come up with a plan, show them the financial benefits in the long term from diagnosing those people early and putting systems in place…,” he said.
He hopes that others would follow his route and look to specialize in this area as there is a lot to do.
Self-motivated
Dr Cloggan describes himself as being self-motivated as he could have, like all of his siblings, dropped out of school because of the lack of finance. Instead, he started working from as young as eight to ensure that he remained in school.
“I come from a very poor family. I know about working and putting myself through school since I was about eight years old on the weekends… I know about not knowing what lunch is… I had professors at Queen’s College who never charged me for lessons because they knew how poor I was,” he shared.
“But listen, I would do it all over again the same way. I am very proud of what I have achieved and where I am today. I must thank the Government of Guyana for giving me the opportunity as a pre-grad student, as a post-grad student…,” he added.
Speaking to young people who may also be struggling, Dr Cloggan stressed that there is always a way and they just have to find it as nothing is impossible.
He stressed that education is the key even as he noted that not everyone would become lawyers and doctors, but there is need for that basic foundation of an education.
“There is always a way. Speak it into existence. Every time you want something, speak it into existence. That is what I did,” he encouraged.
