My Mt Hope experience

THE EDITOR: Over the many years, people (patients and family members) have experienced varying levels of health care service at the nation's public hospitals – accolades of receiving quality care mixed with despair and "never again" emotional bursts of angst and frustration.

I can only relate my personal experience. My mother, 82, was admitted to Mt Hope Hospital's Emergency department on November 29, due to acute shortness of breath and very low blood pressure readings.

During her four days/nights stay there, I was able to witness first-hand some of the operations of the department.

Close relatives were given preference at any time to visit their loved ones in emergency.

There were many (young) doctors present at any point in time, although the ratio of nurses/patients seemed to be a major challenge for the department.

Ironically, I read a newspaper article this week in which a former minister of health said the Registered Nurses Association disclosed the "acute shortage of nursing professionals at the North-Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), with one out of three positions vacant."

Given my mother's age and Parkinson's disease, it was all in God's hands. She was hooked up to a heart monitor and other machines. She was administered the prescribed antibiotics to fight off infections and stabilise her low blood pressure. She was carefully monitored.

The department was always full of patients – due to lack of space, some patients had to be accommodated on sofa-type chairs as well as some were placed on the side of the corridor on wheeled beds/stretchers.

The doctors and nurses were trying their best to keep up with the influx of patients. Some were in critical condition as a result of cardiac arrest and strokes. What surprised me was that age was not a number for critical illness.

My mother was eventually transferred to the Adult Thoracic Medical Ward as her condition had slightly improved. However, it was God's will that she returned to Him on December 8.

I would like to mention some of the doctors I interacted with in emergency, they were very professional in the execution of their duties: Drs Greenidge, Seecharan and Onebe.

At the adult ward, I wish to extend my best wishes to Dr Varun Mahase, only 27 and the medical world to conquer.

He was assigned to my mother's case and allowed me to shed my tears on his shoulder when he broke the news to my family that my mother had passed away.

The public health care system is bursting at its seams to deal with the ever-increasing influx of patients who simply cannot afford exorbitant private health care costs.

Lines are very long to seek further medical attention at the clinics. The waiting list is long to obtain MRIs and scans unless you know someone in the system.

I do not have the solutions, but one fact remains – a balloon can only hold so much air before it implodes.

Reza Abasali, El Socorro