Dear Editor,
A CLOSE friend of mine, who is a Guyanese national living legally in Trinidad and Tobago, contacted me a few days ago informing me that she was denied medical treatment at the Mount Hope Hospital in Trinidad.

She was told by an attendant that the influx of Venezuelans into Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has placed a strain on the T&T health care system, and only holders of T&T ID cards are being allowed access to free healthcare. I subsequently contacted another friend who has been a practising attorney for over a decade in T&T, and was advised that the denial of medical attention to a legal resident was indeed a violation.

It must be noted that the person who was denied medical treatment at Mount Hope Hospital is the holder of a valid CSME Skills Certificate, a legal, tax-paying resident in T&T since 2006, a T&T NI contributing member and presented her bona fide T&T driver’s licence.

This matter is currently being addressed and investigated in Trinidad. Some months ago, in a previous article, I cited some disturbing trends here at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Out-Patients facility, where at least two foreign doctors were encouraging certain Latin American patients to breach the hospital’s protocols by granting them preferential access and attention ahead of locals. Since then, one of those foreign doctors has departed, but the practice continues, even with the assistance of security personnel allegedly taking inducements from non-nationals.

Guyana’s public healthcare service offers unrestricted, free healthcare to all citizens and non-Guyanese alike without discrimination. Although it often goes unnoticed, this is a commendable accomplishment by a country that scored 123, compared to T&T at 63, on the recently released UN Global Human Development report for 2019. I am not xenophobic, but if T&T, with an annual GDP of USD$22.4 Billion, can take austere measures to protect its healthcare system, maybe Guyana with an annual GDP of USD$3.9 Billion needs to revisit its local healthcare policy for non-nationals, some of whom are unreserved abusers of our system. They do not bear the brunt of taxation like many of us, born, bred Guyanese often maligned when visiting other countries.

Regards
Orette Cutting