ONE of the themes in my columns is about those who assert that they are interested in the rights of Guyanese when all they are interested in is vilifying the government for narrow political and publicity purposes.
The government is not coterminous with the population. A huge percentage of society is not interested in politics but wants the preservations of norms and mores that govern society and that are in their own, private, personal interest for both themselves and their families. A majority of the planet’s people live separate lives where they show no concern about politics.

I have spent about 55 years in energetic activism and I have encountered untold numbers whose concern about the discomfort they have is unrelated to government. So many, ordinary people tell me often that they cannot mentally cope with the abuse of the commercial banks. An account goes dormant and instead of an automatic renewal, they have to produce documents that are impossible to get.

Here is an abuse of me and my wife that occurred last Thursday at Woodlands Hospital that has absolutely nothing to do with the Guyana Government and its leaders. It is on these issues we must let our voices be heard and not only rant about the government.
My wife felt heaviness in her left ear and said it was blocked up. I took her to Woodlands Hospital. We received excellent treatment and the doctor said the prescription was sent electronically to Woodlands’ pharmacy. Please read on for the nightmare we began to swim in.

The pharmacy measures 17 feet in length and 12 feet in width. It can safely hold about six persons and two more will make it packed. As we approached the door, we could not enter. It had about 16 persons, some of them senior citizens, waiting in agony. Like me, they did not have a paper prescription to take elsewhere.
I told my wife we would have to return in the evening. I had to return because I had no prescription to take to the pharmacies I patronize.

I left Turkeyen at 20:00 hours to go back to Woodlands. There was the usual line. I joined it. I reached the counter and gave my wife’s name. They got up two bottles of ear drops and instructed me to pay at the cashier in another section of the hospital. I joined another line there.
I took my receipt back to the pharmacy but was told I had to rejoin the line to hand in my receipt. Now you are not going to believe the ending part. The prescription that I never saw was for two bottles of ear drops that are obtainable at any pharmacy over the counter.

What happened on Thursday was an egregious abuse of citizens. I paid for private medical treatment and should not have been compelled to wait hours at Woodlands’ pharmacy for a prescription that was not given to me. The next day I met with the owner of the hospital, the son of the original owner, Dr. Gobin. He simply said that I should have requested a paper prescription from the pharmacist or doctor.

I told him that was impossible since I could not get access to the pharmacist and I wasn’t going to knock on the doctor’s door while he was treating another patient. I told Dr. Gobin that it is impossible for any patient at the out-clinic to know that they can get a paper prescription. If I had known that why would I have put myself through that nightmare?
The next day, I did my research assisted by Akash Persaud. There are 26 private pharmacies from Middle Street and East Street to Industry on the East Coast. I live next to Industry in Turkeyen. If I had a paper prescription I would have had access to 26 pharmacies.

We went to Balwant Singh Hospital (BSH). There were about 20 persons waiting to be served at the pharmacy. BSH does the same thing that Woodlands does – electronic prescription and you are compelled to wait in line and buy the drugs from that hospital. This is a blatant erosion of the right of a citizen to choose a pharmacy of their choice.

What the prescription scandal reveals (Georgetown Hospital does not use electronic prescriptions) are the following – denial of patients’ right to choose a pharmacy even though they are paying for service; unfair capitalism because those 26 pharmacies are at a disadvantage; monopoly by the hospital where, through a system of coercion, patients have to buy the hospital’s drugs despite cost and poor quality.

I implore the people of Guyana to speak out on this violation of their rights. Government must instruct hospitals to issue paper prescriptions; in so doing, the patient has a choice.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.