Lennox Shuman’s COVID-19 propaganda should be roundly condemned

Dear editor,

ONE thing I absolutely detest is attention seekers because they, without question, drain the mental energy out of me. The aetiology of attention-seeking behaviour is complex, with an equally complex psychological underpinning. Having said that, even though I am not at privilege to provide an academic elucidation on it, since it is outside of my field of training, I can state, pellucidly, that it is, without doubt. The act of attention seeking is likely to elicit both the attention and validation from others.

Thursday, while browsing my Facebook timeline, my attention was drawn to a post by Lenox Shuman, the Presidential Candidate of LJP. As the post pertained to medicine, I proceeded to peruse it. On reading the first couple of lines, I discovered that this was not a regular post; that this was clearly a post that served the sickening purpose of disseminating misinformation, propaganda, and ultimately gaining political points from the suffering and death of Guyanese.

With regards to this morally disgusting post, I would agree with Lenox that our healthcare system is overwhelmed because of COVID-19. What I disagree with, however, is the perennial campaigning-politician implying that this was down to poor preparation by the Government. The fact is that COVID-19 is overwhelming all medical services around the world, so much so that in countries with first-class medical services, retired healthcare professionals are being requested to come out of retirement to boost manpower to fight this invisible enemy. Also, in America, the healthcare system is so overwhelmed that patients are waiting hours to see a doctor, and those that died are waiting hours to be taken to the mortuaries. Also, around the world, doctors are having to make difficult decisions about which patients to place on ventilators, and which ones to allow to die peacefully, since the number of patients requiring ventilators far exceed available ventilators. So overwhelming is COVID-19 to America, that President Trump, via Executive Order, instructed GM to manufacture ventilators at levels required at time of war. Many doctors and healthcare professionals have paid the ultimate price with their lives. This is an international tragedy that even healthcare services in First World countries are struggling to manage. These are no ordinary times, and under these circumstances, our medical professionals need our support, and not to be undermined by low-level politicians who are fighting a proxy war for PPP. This is bigger than politics; this is about human lives.

Then Lennox repeated what he heard, without any understanding of what he is saying. This phenomenon is characteristic of microcephalic parrots, and it is universally known as echolalia. In Lennox’s post, he claims that the Government is illegitimate, hence cannot source international aid. Clearly, it is this Government that called the General and Regional Elections, so they must have been legitimate then. Also, Finance Minister Winston Jordan has applied for a US$5M loan from the IMF, which is being processed. Also, it should be noted that Venezuela applied for a similar loan, and was immediately rejected. As a result, I am curious to know what criteria informed Lennox’s conclusion that this Government is illegitimate?
And the laughing stock Lennox went on to indulge in scaremongering and overindulgence in hyperboles. As an echolalic green-wing parrot, he is likely to be oblivious of the meaning of the latter word. “Bodies littering in the streets” is the description he used to score cheap political points for his masters. Probably, Satirical Shuman isn’t aware that political campaigning is over. I can’t recollect the exact number, but I do know it was not enough, even when combined with the votes of two politically-dead parties, to give him a seat. That number I’m alluding to is the number of votes Shuman got at the recent election. As a result, I would humbly suggest to the gentleman that he take his 3000+ votes, and just go gracefully into political hibernation, rather than being propagandist for the PPP. Bodies will not be littering the streets; any such imagery would be down to visual hallucination on the part of Loquacious Lennox.

Then, disingenuous Shuman quoted misleading statistics to scare the masses. He claimed that there is a mortality rate of 21% for COVID-19 in Guyana, with 0% recovery. Shuman, yuh wrong! You are dead wrong! Firstly, the vast majority of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, or have mild symptoms, especially among the young. These will definitely recover. Secondly, Guyana, like many countries, including the UK, is not testing everyone, hence we would never know the true number of COVID-19 cases. Also, the first case that died, whose relatives were infected, as far as I’m aware, they (four of them) have recovered. The point is that for the aforementioned, the 24 confirmed cases are just that; confirmed cases. But confirmed cases are not the only cases. There are many unconfirmed cases who were asymptomatic, or had mild symptoms, hence never had the need to seek medical attention. The fact is that the mortally rate internationally is 1.4%, therefore that should have been a hint to Shuman that his 21% is wrong. But, of course, it is all about cheap political points for him. I will just ignore his maths of a projected 150,000 deaths. He has proven to be dishonest with the facts, hence I rather focus on WHO projection of maximum number of deaths of 4200.

Lennox then ended by saying: Please, please be responsible! Was that attention-seeking politician responsible when he and his Guardian of Democracy defied the Government and assembled in large numbers to guard ballot boxes? Was Lennox and his fellow ‘guardians’ responsible when they refused to practise social distancing when guarding those ballot boxes, and even foolishly said that COVID-19 can wait, since guarding ballot boxes takes precedence? Was Lennox and his colleagues responsible when they not only assembled in large numbers, but also lacked basic facilities to wash their hands? Was Lennox and his crew responsible when face masks were never used when they were in such close proximity to each other? The fact is that Lennox and his crew demonstrated a shocking lack of a sense of responsibility, hence he should be the last to be offering advice.

Regards,

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

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