Dear Editor,

Please allow me to respond to Dr.Leslie Ramsammy, who in a letter to the Kaieteur news editor titled, “Volda Lawrence – Wakenaam Hospital is part of the declining public health system.”

Mr.Editor, I do recognise that this letter was not addressed to me but as a doctor who worked at GPHC during PPP’s mismanagement of the health service, I do feel compelled to respond to Dr. Ramsammy’s misinformation. I trust that the Hon. Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, would forgive me for taking up a battle she is more than capable of addressing.

Last week I wrote in a missive that Dr.Ramsammy would occasionally resurface for a gasp of fresh air. Today he did, but this time he was really in a very cerebrally hypoxic state with blue face of cyanosis, exophthalmos of desperation and panic and hyperventilation of anxiety; recognising that he is now politically irrelevant with blood not only on his hands but plastered in the court room of America.

Dr. Ramsammy described some unfortunate alleged occurrences of four relatives having to use alternative methods of storing their deceased loved ones. He also used some isolated alleged incidence in a few other hospitals. Let me be pellucid in stating that we should at all times show respect for the dead. They should be treated with dignity. Having said that, I do have issues with Dr. Ramsammy’s pronouncement. First and foremost we have to assume what he has written is factual. He provided no dates for these unfortunate incidents. Due to data protection laws, I do recognise that he cannot provide the names of the deceased. Also, what would be critical to determining whether these are isolated incidents is not only to highlight the dates of the events, but the number of relatives who have had this experience with their deceased loved ones. For example, if over four years four cases occurred out of thousands then we can describe it as isolated. Yes it still needs to be addressed but clearly does not require the hormonal melodramatics, that even hormone replacement therapy cannot address, that is evident in Dr. Ramsammy’s letters.

Dr. Ramsammy then spoke of concerns of the RDC of Region Three. Who is this RDC? I would bet both my kidneys and pancreas that he/she is a PPP mole spreading misinformation. Secondly, in what capacity was Dr. Ramsammy speaking to the RDC of region? Is Dr. Ramsammy the shadow minister of health? Is he their MP? If he is not then was this the standard protocol in raising concerns. To me this smells more fishy than Roger Khan’s spy equipment saga.

Mr. Editor, the comic show gets worse. The not-so-good doctor had this to say and I will quote him verbatim, “Public health in Guyana has rapidly declined since May 2015.” Ha Ha Ha Ha. This is such a joke that I would have literally soaked my bed if I hadn’t have on my nightly pampers. So PPP was voted out in May 2015 and this was immediately followed by the death of the health service. Dr. Ramsammy, a few months back I give you some distant education classes when you demonstrated a significant gap in your knowledge where you tried to score cheap political points after the vincristine incident. I did send your certificate in the post and I trust you display on the very wall Irfaan Ali is displaying his. Shall we have another class? Dr. Ramsammy, medicine is based on evidence and not anecdotal or hearsay garbage. Got That! The quality of a health service is assessed by international well defined matrices, not from a little story here and a little story there. I recognise that you are becoming lazy and expect your tutor Dr. Devonish to teach you everything. I don’t have the time to keep guiding a pensioner. As a result I would instruct you to do research on the internationally recognised matrices that are used to assess the quality of a health service. I would expect this assignment on my desk no later than September 18, when Guyana is due for a political apocalypse as predicted by none other than Bharrat Jagdeo.

Dr. Ramsammy really think Guyanese are fools. For 23 years the health service was in perfect health and the day the PPP voted out it collapsed. Dr. Ramsammy, let me break down your asinine statement for you. Donald Trump was voted into power in 2016. Why do you think the economy is still doing well? The answer is that he inherited a great economy from Obama hence it is well even three years after. The same principle applies with Bill Clinton’s great economy that he handed over to George Bush Jr. Dr. Ramsammy, I used those examples because I know that America is close to your heart since it was there you went for your medical care when the health service under PPP was “doing great.” Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that no service collapses overnight as you are suggesting with the health service in Guyana.

If a service is doing well the momentum would be maintained for a while even if bad policies were in place. You are right that the health service was bad in 2015. It was bad during the 23 years of PPP because ministers of health, like you, politicise it, having square pegs in round holes. Ministers of health like you were completely clueless which is evident by the garbage you write; getting excited with anecdotal evidence and hearsay. Ministers of health like you were lacking in ideas, more obsessed with position and lacking leadership skills. It is because of ministers of health like you that this government, since May 2015, has been desperately trying to lift the health service from the abyss masterminded by the PPP. So my advice to you, failed minister of health, is the next time you wish to write propaganda, make sure that you restrict it to the Guyana Times, a papers that Guyanese don’t read.

Regards

Dr.Mark Devonish
MBBS MSc Med. Ed MRCP (UK) FRCP (Edin)
Consultant Acute Medicine
Nottingham University Hospital
UK