GPHC visit
– as GPHC Chair admits to demanding MPs return to tour schedule
After visits to several hospitals, the Chairperson of the parliamentary Committee on Social Services has raised concerns that a shortage of drugs is being coupled with efforts by hospital executives to deter the Committee from carrying out its constitutional mandate.
It was only on Wednesday that an impromptu visit by the Sectoral Committee on Social Services to the Georgetown Public Hospital’s bond was cut short by GPHC executives.
Dr Vindhya Persaud
During a press conference on Thursday, the Chairperson of that Committee, Dr Vindhya Persaud, decried the manner in which her Committee’s work to keep an eye on the Hospital’s operations was stymied.
“When we wrote to the Hospital, the same letter was sent to all the hospitals that allowed us unfettered access to these institutions. We were not prevented at any other institution from gaining access to any part of that institution,” the Opposition Member of Parliament said.
“We wrote to visit the entire facility. There was no agreement to visit one or two departments. The Chair (of GPHC’s Board, Kesaundra Alves) wanted us to visit a certain section of the Hospital. I’m ok, but that should not prevent us from visiting any other part of the Hospital.”
Dr Persaud made it clear that the only areas that can be restricted from a parliamentary oversight committee on an official visit are areas under quarantine or areas where there is a medical emergency.
“Unless there is an epidemic, a quarantine or mass casualty and trauma, of course those are things we understand and we would not intrude. As a committee we want to see the day to day activities of the institution.”
“When I expressed interest when we were passing the drug bond, having visited the pharmacy (it was) because we wanted to see what was happening in the bond because the picture that came out was not clear when we went to the pharmacy. We were told no, we cannot go up there, by the Chair of the Board,” she said.
Dr Persaud said she was told that the bond was not prepared, to which she had queried why would the bond have to be prepared if it has been functioning every day. With that in mind, Persaud said she went into the bond and met with staffers, but was subsequently ordered to leave by hospital officials.
“The door was open; we went in and met with the staff. They were very vociferous about why we shouldn’t enter the bond, making me think that there was something to hide. What would any reasonably intelligent person think? I don’t understand the resistance.”
The parliamentarian reminded that patients have, for some time, been complaining about the long waiting periods and lack of medication. In view of the important oversight function the committee on social services performs, Dr Persaud and the Opposition called for its authority to be respected.
GPHC
This publication made contact with Chairperson of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Board, Kesaundra Alves on Thursday to get her response to reports that she told the Committee to leave the bond.
Subsequently, a press release was released by the Chairperson expressing outrage “at the deception demonstrated by some members of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services during this week’s visit to the institution.”
According to the release, the Clerk of the Sectoral Committee wrote to the GPHC seeking permission to “observe the conditions/facilities under which patients are cared for and interact with members of the public and staff at this facility.”
“At the pre-visit briefing, Alves informed the Committee and the media that the places selected to be visited were the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department, the Surgical Outpatients Department (SOPD), the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) and the Paediatric Department,” the release said.
The release claimed that once the tour began, Dr Persaud had indicated that she would like to add three other places to be visited, which were agreed to by officials. These places, the release said, were the main pharmacy, the main laboratory and the Maternity Unit.
“When the touring party left ‘Baby Heart’ and proceeded to the laboratory, Dr Persaud broke away from the rest of the group and bolted up the stairs of the pharmacy bond with the media at her heels,” Alves recalled in the statement.
Alves admitted in the statement that she had demanded that Dr Persaud and the media return to the agreed tour schedule, since she suspected “some mischief was afoot.”
“These requests were ignored and Dr Persaud and the media went into the Bond unimpeded. Other Committee members remained behind and lamented her high handed approach. It was distasteful and unethical. Clearly there was some hidden agenda,” Alves said.
Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the visit, Dr Persaud had expressed dissatisfaction and said she will ensure that another tour is organized.
