A FAILING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

The problems facing the country’s health care system, especially the public hospitals are well known. They are affecting the poor and the working class irrespective of their race or party affiliations. The country’s health care system is in very poor shape and immediate action must be taken by the government to reduce its backwardness. Indeed, the APNU+AFC coalition government cannot be blamed for the poor and backward public health care system, which continues to suffer from a chronic shortage of drugs, doctors, nurses, antiquated structures, lack of beds, emergency care medicines and deficient regulatory configurations. Many are aware that their chances of going to the public hospitals and returning home alive are slim. The death of 17 year Nikacia Allen a month after giving birth to her third child is a case in point. This should not happen in the 21st century. Although the government has been in office for only a few months, it cannot overlook the problems that must be solved urgently. The government has to move quickly to staff the hospitals with qualified doctors and skilled medical personnel. The citizens deserve a better health care system. That maternal deaths are frequent is to state the obvious. Only a callous government would allow maternal deaths to continue. At the current pace, it will take several years for the government to end maternal deaths and for the nation to have a proper health care system. There have been numerous complaints by the public about the poor services being offered at the public hospitals. The accusations of negligence, substandard care, scarcity of resources and lack of beds and equipment are not being looked at holistically and honestly by the present administration. It does not take a rocket scientist to fix the problems, but with two Ministers at the helm of the health care system, the people expect the problem to be fixed urgently. A national dialogue on the state of health care is urgently needed. The government is obligated to provide proper health care to the nation. The recent upgrades to the health facilities by the previous administration have been woefully inadequate in providing the people with the health services that they deserve. The huge sum of money expended by the last government has not improved the services or the waiting time for patients who must endure long hours of wait in order to access care at the hospitals and other health facilities. Not only are the bathrooms at these public facilities not working, but the stench emanating from them is awful. On most days the toilets and sinks are either blocked or are overflowing. In terms of improving health care, the government has not walked the walk. The government has to actively pursue a health care strategy that will facilitate state-of-the-art services to the people to regain their trust and confidence. They have to correct the backwardness of the previous government and move beyond their shortsightedness and to urgently provide proper health care for all Guyanese. The people deserve a better health care system; it is time to stop the pontification. While it is taking the government months to make decisions on simple health care issues, the people, especially the poor and the working class, are suffering, skilled health care personnel are migrating, and lives are being lost. A nation is as healthy as it health care system.A state that does not provide adequate health care to its citizens is considered a failed state.