Doctor breaks silence on death of Cheddi Jagan

Dear Editor, I visited Mrs Janet Jagan at her home just a few days before she died. I saw only the exterior, the stairs, the living room and the tiny study. I did not see the bedrooms or the kitchen, but I feel that I saw enough to offer my opinion that it was indeed a modest home. Also, judging from its size, appearance and layout, it compares to the modest village home I was raised in at Palmyra Village, East Coast Berbice in the 1950s and 1960s. It simply is not comparable to any of the large homes recently constructed in Georgetown and environs. I can attest too that President Cheddi Jagan postponed urgent and critically needed cardiac surgery by two months. He died before it was done. I was one of three doctors who met with him and Mrs Jagan on Sunday, February 9, 1997. The other two doctors were Dr Hughley Hanoman and Dr Roger Luncheon. The five of us met at State House for the specific purpose of addressing Dr Jagan’s medical condition and to establish a plan of treatment. I still have my copies of his medical records and test results and some of his notes to me. Without revealing any confidential patient-doctor aspects of his medical condition, I can address those issues already in the public domain. He was in congestive heart failure as we spoke. He had already been on medications for that but with only partial success and his heart failure was getting worse. He needed to have the underlying cause of his heart failure treated. That was blocked coronary arteries and the treatment for that was coronary bypass surgery. And the quicker the better. Before arriving in Guyana, based on test results Dr Jagan had sent me a few days earlier, I had made arrangements for him to have his entire cardiac care including tests, imaging, cardiac evaluations, coronary bypass surgery, recuperation and rehabilitation, hospital charges, surgeons fees and all other fees waived by the hospital and the professionals involved, as a courtesy to the people of Guyana. Dr Jagan had visited me in Midland, Texas in December, 1994, and had met nearly all of the people involved, at a social level. And he had charmed them off, uncontrollably! So that when I asked them for their help on his behalf, in February 1997, they were the easiest chips to call in! The cardiac surgeon, after review of the records, had recommended urgent surgery. After I arrived in Guyana, Dr Jagan invited me to stay at State House. We spent much time talking about his deteriorating medical condition. He was determined to keep that quiet. He had first told me about his health in July 1996 when we met for three days in Houston, Texas. At first, I wondered if he wanted to be treated at the world famous Texas Heart Center but soon discovered that he had no such intention. His notes to me afterwards indicated serial worsening of his condition. He had another physician friend in Ohio. He too had recommended surgery and advised him to have his surgery done at the highly-rated Cleveland Clinic. At the meeting at State House in February 1997, Dr Jagan listened to the pros and cons of the various options. There was the usual difference of opinions when doctors meet. No plan for definitive surgery was confirmed. Later that night, Dr Jagan told me that he would “sleep on it” and let me know in the morning. I was leaving the next morning for Texas and since I was leaving his home at about 3 am for that early morning flight, I said my farewells right then. To my surprise, he was waiting for me when I came out the next morning. He said that he had considered all the advice and opinions but based mostly on how he was feeling over the previous two weeks, he had decided on having coronary bypass surgery. I was elated and asked if he wanted to travel with me on my flights to Midland, Texas. He said that he couldn’t do that. He wanted to wait two months. He did not tell me why. It occurred to me that he might be looking for a way out, to have the surgery done at the Cleveland Clinic and did not want to hurt my feelings. I was aware that other persons had suggested to him that he should go to a world-renowned centre instead of “a never heard of place” if he decided on surgery. So I brought it up and assured him that my feelings would not be hurt. He stopped me immediately. “I want you to do it,” he said, meaning of course, that he wanted the team I had put together to do it. (I am not a surgeon. At the time, I was Chairman of our hospital board of directors and so had a little extra standing in the medical community.) He reminded me that the other two Guyanese we had operated on at his request, one public knowledge, one private, had only the best things to say about their care here in Texas. After reading Ralph Ramkarran’s article which indicates that Dr Jagan deferred the surgery to make it fit with a previously planned trip abroad, I am heartbroken. I wish Dr Jagan had told me that. I wish I had thought of that. That was the kind of person he was. So I should have thought of it. But I didn’t. He had a heart attack five days later. It was bound to happen. Just a matter of when. We could have saved him. He opted to save – taxpayers dollars or not – at the risk of his life. It was just the air fare. As it turned out, he never recovered. Guyana lost a man of honour and integrity, prematurely. I admired him immensely as a servant of the people. And as a fighter for what he thought was right. Tulsi Dyal Singh