The shame of a human foetus (a dead baby) being dragged away by a stray dog from a hospital must bring utter shame for every Guyanese, even if they are living abroad. This absolutely horrendous story reminds us all of the infamy of a baby being eaten by rats at the Georgetown Hospital when the People’s National Congress (PNC) was in Government. Now under APNU/AFC, the new name of the PNC, the health sector is rapidly deteriorating to bring back horrible memories of the disgrace that was the health sector of Guyana in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Guyana Times must be commended for keeping alive the disgusting story of a human foetus being dragged away by a stray dog from the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital at Diamond. This story is a scandal of epic proportion. It is a story of a failing health sector, a failing government and a media which has failed to hold APNU/AFC accountable either because they are fearful or still in cahoots with them, looking for favours from a corrupt and incompetent government.
But why is a foetus in a garbage pail? Why are stray dogs still feeding in garbage dumps anywhere in a hospital compound? Why is it that personnel, including doctors and nurses, do not know what to do with a dead human foetus? Is this merely just one of the known instances where this has happened, or is this just another routine example of a dysfunctional health sector? Surely, this is not the first time that a dead human foetus had to be discarded at the East Demerara Regional Hospital at Diamond. What happened on previous occasions when a dead foetus appeared at this and other hospitals in Guyana?
Each of these questions demands answers and the fact that any of these and other related questions have to be asked is itself scandalous. Had it not been for the reporting in the Guyana Times, TVG and Citizen’s Report, this scandal would have never been revealed and would have been another shameful routine occurrence. The horror of this story also depicts a media woefully falling short to hold APNU/AFC accountable.
I am well aware that there will be fall guys. Doctors and nurses are in the front of those who will be held responsible. But the buck stops at the top. We cannot continue each day to hold investigations and then allow junior staff occasionally to be fall guys. There is a responsibility for senior personnel to be accountable too. Why it is that no one ensured that each hospital has active written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)? SOPs were in place when I was Minister of Health and were actively evaluated as part of the Service Agreements.
While the Minister of Health is not directly responsible for this particular fiasco of a human foetus being dragged away from a government hospital by a hungry stray dog, the buck does stop at him and his senior officers in the Ministry of Health itself. The present Minister of Health himself had demanded that his immediate predecessor resign from office for matters that make this one pale in comparison. Recall that Dr Bheri Ramsarran did resign for making derogatory remarks to a young woman. The media and the then APNU/AFC demanded that Dr Ramsarran resign and he did under pressure from some of his own colleagues. When I was Minister any deficiency in the performance of the sector was enough to have APNU/AFC in a frenzy demanding my resignation.
Yet no one in the Ministry of Health from the Minister down to any of his senior executives will be held responsible for this shameful incident. But make no mistake the scandal of people getting sicker, disabled and even dying from avoidable causes in the health sector is an everyday, routine occurrence in our country today. People’s lives are at risk because of blood shortages, shortages of critical medicines such as insulin and antibiotics, shortages of supplies for the operating theatre causing deferral of life-saving surgeries, etc.
Add to all of these, the debacle of special interests in awarding the contract for the Specialty Hospital to Fedders Lloyd, totally disregarding standard government procedures. Or add the fact that baby milk not permissible for sale in Guyana according to the Ministry of Health’s own laws and which cannot be sold for babies in the country of origin and manufacture (France) is allowed to still be sold, all because of special interest, rewarding an APNU/AFC donor, putting babies’ lives at risk. Something is rotten in Guyana and none is accountable.
