Dear Editor,
REGION Two will never be able to get another patriotic person like Mr Deleep Singh. I have heard so many good things about this popular businessman from Charity. I cannot help risking repetition of the awesome one-man crusade by Mr Singh, who I was made to understand spent millions of dollars of his own money to fix the Intensive Care Unit and the Registry at Suddie Public Hospital. On his visit one day to the hospital, he saw that gutters were falling off from the rooftop; it was an unholy sight to the public, doctors, nurses and the administrators .The ICU and the Registry were no different,there was no air-conditioning for the patients coming out from the operating theatre.
Mr Singh decided to buy the air-conditioners and tiles; for the ICU, he mobilised his own carpenters and technicians to fix both. It was a good investment for both patients ,doctors and nurses, who are working 24/7 in the wards and the clerk for medical record-keeping .As a patient in the ICU for four days and nights, I saw how clean and tidy the Cubans are keeping this unit; every half an hour they will mop the floor and keep it sanitized to avoid any bacteria. The beds and sheets are well clean and the staff are well trained in patient care.
I can say this without any reservations, because I saw it in Ruby Hall Super specialty hospital in India, where I was a patient for two months and I know what is top-class medicare. The Cuban counterparts cannot compare them, except for those who came from the old nursing school. In this same hospital I overheard patients who worked on the rehabilitation of the hospital in 2012, saying how materials which were paid for and were supposed to be used to build several wings were diverted to West Demerara to build a private contractor’s house. No wonder this hospital is in such a shabby state.
Essequibo needs a state-of-the-art flat hospital, the one presently in use at Suddie is over 100 years old with no improvements; we need a hospital which offers the advantages of the most advanced technology combined with a compassionate treatment approach to patients. The problem with this hospital is that it doesn’t have a proper functioning and experienced management committee to put policy in place to correct the faults, no one knows who they can complain to. The past management committee under Ms Nandranie Coonjah was doing an excellent job and the hospital was being managed better.
There are no daily group discussions under the chairmanship of the committee, which are looking into difficult cases, to give patients the advantage of the pooled knowledge of experts in several disciplines. In addition, no clinical meetings are held as part of the hospital’s continuing medical education programme, where papers are presented by consultants. There are no attempts by the ministry of public health to train aspiring students to become competent nursing professionals. No library is in this hospital and no reading room with books of all nursing and allied subjects and also books of general knowledge and language books. There are no internet facilities and digital library.
Coming back to Mr Deleep Singh, they are many more big businessmen like him who can help to adopt a ward or two, but they chose not to do so, when they get ill they will go to a private hospital in Georgetown or out of the country for treatment. I think over $ 2.3 billion was budgeted in 2013 for a state-of-the art specialty surgical hospital at Suddie .The government should use Indian government loan for this purposes. With all the billions which were expended in the health sector and training of public health personnel, the health facilities all over the country are in bad shape. Where is the $2.3 billion which was allocated in 2013, for the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of the health infrastructure countrywide? And which was supposed to provide comprehensive facilities in preventive, curative and rehabilitative care to the patients? I don’t think that the Suddie Public hospital will ever be certified as one of international standards.
Regards
Mohamed Khan