UNC: 'Are you playing God with covid19 patients?'

AS increasing covid19 infections reduces hospital bed space, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is questioning whether medical personnel are "playing God” with lives, determining who lives and who dies.

Her query follows the death on May 14 of an elderly man who had comorbidities which allegedly disqualified him from being given a bed in the ICU unit.

She sought clarification as to whether covid patients who are old and have comorbidities are being "cast aside" in favour of those with a better prognosis.

“Are you prioritising who will live and who will die? Is it that some people are seeing themselves as God? They determine who they will take care of?” she asked. “We have already been told that the facilities are overcrowded, we have already been told that the frontline workers don’t have enough equipment, what you call PPE.

“We are being told that there is a shortage of vital supplies, ventilators and so on, for those who need it. We are also being told – and this is a very serious matter – that when you go in, you’re being categorixed.”

She painted a scenario.

“They are saying, ‘You’re old and you have the pre-conditions,' so, ‘Don’t pay too much priority, you know, that person could go,’ because you’re overcrowded and understaffed and they’re saying, ‘Listen, you come in here an old person and you have comorbidities,' and you shunt those aside.’

“Is this true?” she asked.

The barrage of questions she posed during the United National Congress (UNC) Monday night Virtual Report followed a letter she read from an unidentified person detailing the loss of his uncle.

The letter-writer said hope surfaced after someone died and a bed became available at the Couva hospital to admit his uncle.

But he said his uncle was given a “death sentence” when he was denied a space in the ICU because of his age and pre-existing conditions and subsequently died.

He wrote, “The system is overrun and because of the Government’s profile he was not a candidate for further treatment.

“It was not just the odds against him, it is the placement of a body in a production line with a predetermined result. This was his death sentence.

The writer said the family felt: “Guilt and regret, for entrusting his care in our Government’s system. Immediately we knew we made the wrong choice.”

He said his uncle’s life was stolen from him on May 14, he died alone and scared, and his family were notified eight hours after his death.

He said although his uncle was 86, he enjoyed a good quality of life and was worth fighting for.

He said what is even more painful is the broken promise to bring his uncle back home.

Persad-Bissessar said the writer was not UNC nor anti-PNM but rather, as he said, “I am anti-senseless death due to inaction when you had a long head start.”

Persad-Bissessar reiterated that the UNC supported saving lives and livelihoods and would support any initiative to get the virus under control.

However, she said this did not mean letting the Government get off without accounting for its handling of the pandemic. She again called for accountability for the $18 billion spent to date.

Pointing out vaccination is the solution, she urged Government to take all steps to secure vaccines. She urged the Prime Minister to put aside his pride and secure some of the 80 million doses of vaccines US President Joe Biden has pledged to give to countries that have none.