Reflections of a covid19 survivor

DR TIM GOPEESINGH

WHEN I contracted covid19 in mid-August, the irony was hardly lost on me. I was the first public official in TT to consistently warn that the deadly coronavirus would evolve into one of the world’s (and TT’s) most destabilising pandemics in a century.

By mid-December, TT had registered over 120 official covid19 deaths and thousands of infections. Perhaps such a harsh impact could have been prevented if the Rowley administration had simply heeded my very early calls for the Government to urgently address this serious threat.

At the parliamentary sitting of January 31, as then Caroni East MP, I raised it as a matter of urgent public importance. TT was then in the throes of our beloved annual Carnival celebrations. I stated that the Government had refused to properly secure our borders, even though the virus was already rapidly spreading globally, infecting thousands and causing hundreds of deaths in over 25 countries. The House Speaker notoriously rejected my motion.

On Carnival Tuesday (February 25), I again issued a public statement titled “Covid19 Alert – TT faces deadly health sector crisis post-Carnival – time for urgent action by PM Rowley.” Later, during the national shutdown, I warned of the highly questionable, serious under-testing by the Health Ministry, which was masking TT’s true covid19 rate of infection. I noted that this would endanger our citizens’ lives by lulling them into a false sense of security over the deadly virus’ spread.

The PNM Government, however, instead chose to use this destructive pandemic as a convenient political means to an end, in a crucial election year. It won the political battle, but the citizens of TT are now realising that we remain the collateral damage, and will continue to pay the serious economic, social and medical price for a very long time to come.

I had relentlessly raised these issues because of my lifelong commitment to public service, and deep desire to see our public health sector transformed into one which truly serves all citizens in an effective and equitable manner. Indeed, in my nearly five decades as a medical practitioner, I know first-hand of the various ills and significant limitations that plague our national healthcare system.

I worked in the public health sector for over 30 years (1974-2007). I also served as clinical dean and associate professor (senior lecturer) at the UWI School of Medicine. I have worked and trained at more than 18 hospitals in the UK, US, Canada and the West Indies, and taught and trained over 3,000 medical students and many post-graduate doctors here and abroad.

I certainly understand the serious emotional and physical pain, and mental distress, that most citizens endure in our public healthcare institutions. Their current reputations for horrendous mismanagement and ill-treatment frankly inspire nothing but terror and despair. This remains true despite the professional treatment I personally received from the medical personnel, some of whom I previously trained, when I was hospitalised with covid19.

Notwithstanding the atrocious working conditions and other obstacles, our public healthcare workers have done yeoman’s service in TT’s greatest time of medical need. They are not to be blamed for the badly broken public health system in which they work. This is the sole responsibility of the RHAs, Ministry of Health and this Government, which continue to fail the population.

The covid19 vaccines are now thankfully giving the world a chance to combat this destructive, dangerous pandemic. But for TT, it also gives the Rowley Government the opportunity to finally focus on correcting the many shortfalls and inefficiencies of our seriously damaged public health sector.

According to PM Rowley, TT will receive covid19 vaccines to cover 33 per cent of TT’s population – some 461,000 nationals – free of charge. I urge every single citizen to please take the vaccine. The Government, however, has worryingly failed to address the myriad of issues concerning the imminent, and future, administration of this vaccine, which include:

* The guarantee of proper, safe transport and storage of the vaccine.

* The swift, equitable and efficient delivery system to citizens.

* The necessary effective public education campaign and comprehensive programme to allay any ill-conceived fears about the vaccine’s safety.

* The human resource implications for the workplace.

This requires urgent public stakeholder consultations and a policy of multipartite co-operation and support. The Government must therefore be prepared to finally shed its ongoing authoritarian, divisive, hectoring modus operandi, which has thus far seriously compromised our nation’s economic, social and medical welfare.

If anything, the coronavirus has taught us that illness has no political, ethnic, geographic or socio-economic boundaries. It is the great equaliser of all human beings. The time has therefore come for our nation’s elected leaders to serve the public in a manner that is fair, decent, efficient and especially devoid of political one-upmanship.

The covid19 vaccine should also be the impetus for the Government to finally find the willpower and commitment to actively reform and fix the nation’s long failing, disastrous public health sector. Let us hope, therefore, that this administration truly gives citizens a reason to look forward to the new year with much needed optimism. It is, after all, our just due as a population.

Dr Tim Gopeesingh is a medical doctor, former MP and Cabinet minister