Our lives need to be respected in this country

Dear Editor,
Medical doctors should not be the only ones to weigh in on the recent triple malpractice at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Of course, opinions from nurses, pharmacists, scientists and others ought to be carried by the media to foster knowledge, to reduce medical errors and ultimately improve healthcare.
Further, scientists like me who are in biomedical research are in authority to speak and write on healthcare issues. Biomedical scientists advance clinical medicine through innovation and also contribute to medical articles in magazines, journals and newspapers. Stifling the opinions of people like me is shortsighted and it is one reason why our healthcare system remains primitive and deadly. Do we want to continue like this? I bet not.
Editor, I have rightly concluded in my previous letter that intrathecal vincristine is lethal and that it induces a unique repertoire of symptoms. Editor, my knowledge and my experience in drug delivery have enabled me to do this. There is not even one single experiment in my 20 years of research where I did not deliver a drug. I have even safely delivered novel ones as well. The recent news reports from the GPHC about a week ago have confirmed my position regarding what happened to those children. I find it hard to believe that doctors failed to link the patient’s symptoms to the lethal administration of vincristine after the first error. They even went on to kill two others. Such errors occurred primarily because of a lack of knowledge, a lack of training in basic science research and bad attitudes.
Moreover, I also know that adverse drug effects are generally reversible when molecules are given through the correct mode and at the right dose and at the right frequency. It makes sense to reason that well-characterised drugs like vincristine shouldn’t result in deaths much less three in a row in a single month. This line of reasoning prompted me to conclude that medical errors were responsible and the GPHC has confirmed this. I have no doubt drawn attention and brought clarity on the triple error at the GPHC. Now the GPHC owes it to the public to at least outline its plans in preventing such errors in the future. This is critical in restoring some level of confidence in our hospitals.
My research has taken me into the territory of sample collection and data collection. To this end, I can’t swallow the autopsy findings. I can’t believe that 100 per cent of the autopsies turned out to be 100 per cent inconclusive in 100 per cent of the samples and in 100 per cent of the analysis. I know that autopsies are difficult but these numbers are still hard to swallow. In my opinion, they indicate problems with the patient’s samples. Editor, this needs to be probed. We need to hear why all of the autopsy results are inconclusive. It is my contention that if the appropriate samples haven’t been harvested or handled correctly then obviously the results will be 100 per cent inconclusive. I know that mass spectrometry analysis could detect this drug, the end products of this drug and any degraded products of this drug, particularly in sites where they do not belong. I have used this technique to detect molecules in low concentrations. Of course, the patient’s medical records could be correlated with the autopsy results in constructing the cause of death. The results from the autopsies are necessary to seal the cause of death. My logic is what is applied in both basic science research and in clinical settings to solve clinical problems.
Editor, the public needs to know that medical doctors generally know very little about drugs. This is a fact. And this is why there are pharmacists. Medical doctors also need deeper scientific knowledge through biomedical research. They need to be creative. They need to work alongside PhDs and other professionals to enhance their knowledge. Such a collaborative atmosphere is necessary but it is absent in our healthcare system and this is another reason why healthcare in Guyana remains deadly. Translational research needs to be incorporated into our healthcare system to improve it and the oil wealth should be pumped into this. Clearly, our medical doctors are lacking and this is exactly what the triple manslaughter at the GPHC is telling us. To this end, I urge the media to carry the opinions of everyone. Our voices are educational and instrumental in moving our country forward. There is no single professional with all the answers to every medical problem.
The Guyanese Government needs to understand the value of hiring scientists with PhD degrees in translational research. Through translational medicine, novel scientific knowledge is moved from the research bench to the bedside in improving patient care. Such an understanding and appreciation is lacking in Guyana. I have personally contributed to this area of biomedical research in a world class hospital and in a developed country for over 12 years but a third world Government is hell-bent on shutting me down so that it appoints its political supporters who are army officers, book-keepers and doctors to key positions within the healthcare system. What can these people contribute to healthcare? They contribute absolutely nothing and they waste scarce tax dollars and cost lives. As citizens, we need to hammer away at these issues to transform the healthcare system into one that can save lives. Government must also move our drugs into proper storage to improve healthcare and to save lives. The Sussex Street bottom house and the rodent-infested hotel facilities can never be storage facilities for drugs.
Editor, here is a view into how attitudes in underdeveloped countries have turned our healthcare system into one that is deadly.
The APNU/PNC/AFC Government has even bought foreign medical coverage for its Cabinet members on tax dollars it drains from the poor while it ignores the troubles within our deadly healthcare system. A law is needed to force Government to use the deadly healthcare as its citizens. Government, every life is equal. This kind of third world mentality has got to go for us to see improvements in the Guyanese healthcare system.

In underdeveloped countries like Guyana, doctors expose oversized egos and bark at patients and violate patients by injecting them with drugs without even explaining the nature of the treatment. This is unacceptable. I must inform Government that I also have those psychology degrees which position me to easily spot its dysfunction and I will continue to call them out for the sake of humanity. And in harking back to these children killed at the GPHC, I must urge their parents to take legal action to prevent medical malpractice in our hospitals. Our lives need to be respected in this country.

Sincerely,
Dr Annie Baliram