Dear Editor
IT is with great concern and frustration that I am writing this letter to be published in your newspaper, which highlights a grievance that is affecting patients on the Essequibo Coast and hoping that some sort of solution can be found, so as to satisfy we the people of Region Two.

As a resident of this region, myself and fellow Essequibians are entitled to optimal health care services that are being provided at all health facilities in this region. However, to my surprise, it is not so and has become devastating for patients seeking dental care.

Mr Editor, I took my child to the Anna Regina Health Centre which was recently and nicely renovated with full AC units, to have an extraction done. When I reached the health centre, it was only to learn that the dental department was not working and I must take the child to either Suddie or Charity Hospital for the extraction, or I can go private. I asked why the dental department was not working and one of the staff members said that the department does not have a proper dental chair and it is just an empty room. Again, I asked another question, and that was, how come the department was empty and the centre was just renovated. Another staff member said that they forgot to make accommodation for the dental people and I replied saying that, “this is nonsense you telling me.” By this time my level of frustration had increased, because my child was in pain and I had to travel either north or south to get treatment.

However, I went to the Suddie Hospital, only to hear the nurse say that “y’all late and doctor only seeing 10 patients, because he ain’t feeling well.”

Mr Editor, imagine what was going through my mind at this point. I then asked if there is anyone to whom I could talk, because my child was in pain and no response was given. Mr Editor, I eventually went home and gave my child a panadol for the pain and the following day we travelled to Georgetown to go to the Dental Centre, where treatment was given, but I was questioned by the operator as to why I had left all the clinics in Region Two to come to Georgetown. I was also told that a new dental surgeon who is from this region will be returning to work in the region and things should be better.

Mr Editor, the problem is not having a new dental surgeon who is an Essequibian which the region will be happy to have (which I supposed), but what this new dental surgeon would be doing, should he or she go to Anna Regina to work if the clinic is empty? What about those persons who cannot afford to travel to Suddie, Charity and Georgetown, or visit a private dental clinic? Who is responsible for managing the health centre?
I am kindly asking the Minister of Public Health to look into this frustrating situation in Region Two, for I am not the only one who has been told to go here, there and everywhere, when there is a health facility right in our community.

Regards
Concerned Parent