Take stock now, Dr Rowley

Seriously now, with over 2,500 covid19-driven deaths and 83,000 cases within two years, it is time to take stock. We may compare our death rate with other countries, but my immediate emphasis here is the frightening jump from last April to now in the number of both covid19 cases and deaths.

Given the concerns expressed by nurses, doctors, covid19 patients and, more precisely, the deficient physical and treatment conditions at the hospitals, the time has come to take serious stock. With omicron and new viral mutations coming upon us, the government must prepare in terms of effective management, prevention and treatment and accountability.

The PM must move into a higher vision of national politics – beyond Health Minister Deyalsingh’s press conferences. The PM is in charge. He appoints, he dismisses and is accountable.

Covid19 management is now a public responsibility matter, far beyond small-time partisan politics and self-serving postures. This is not about the next election. This is about the health, life and death of tax-paying citizens. Taking stock is in the interest of the government itself and the public. It means the quickened establishment of an independent oversight body of professionals (example medicine, management, accountancy) to examine what works, what is not working and why, and fix things quickly. As a responsible government, treat it with the urgency required. It was Dr Rowley who publicly said, “We are all in this together.”

Well, act accordingly.

People cannot be dying so every day, especially when they go for treatment in the hospital. Imagine, 32 deaths in one day! The forensics and handling of the dead bodies are also very troubling matters. It was very surprising to hear that our funeral agencies are not properly registered. The government has a sworn constitutional duty to fix these things. Every covid19 problem cannot be so easily dumped upon the unvaccinated.

The evidence shows that while vaccination does have some preventive value, it is no miracle cure.

Further, the lack and twisting of covid19 information by the authorities bother the public.

Part of the failure to achieve higher success rates in both vaccination and treatment is that the whole covid19 matter started here with too much one-sided politics. It looked too much like a “government thing.”

Of course, the executive (government), with taxpayers' money and its oath of office, has the duty to lead. But this covid19 matter – its scope, implications and severe consequences – was and still is an unprecedented national challenge for everybody. It requires a different, more mature type of national leadership.

Around March last year, I publicly commended the health minister and government for their initial efforts. But I then noticed that as the covid19 problems expanded and got more serious, the adversarial politics got increasingly obstructive, making strongly advisable a more productive, politically-bipartisan approach in the public interest.

So around last May I wrote: “With supporting health services increasingly suffering from diminished facilities and manpower, it will take more than a state of emergency driven by partisan politics. We need joint political leadership energised by moral legitimacy. Something like a war cabinet.”

Hearing the repeated appeals of stressed-out doctors and nurses, and with my own desperation for a life-saving political formula, I added: “Is it too late for our elected politicians to escape the Westminster prison, to rise to the occasion and help inspire the fullest use of the country’s physical and human resources? Time is running out. The longer this multi-sectoral mission takes to be established, the more politically divisive covid19 issues will become. Citizens are already so depressed and frightened.”

I concluded: “If not, we will begin to see ourselves as a 'death wish' society, helpless in the face of a mounting disaster. If Dr Rowley and his Cabinet feel such a joint mission is premature, then he should establish an independent task force now to review dispassionately the management of the pandemic since December 2019 to produce recommendations within a month for improvement. Whatever, we just can’t continue this noisy, divisive way.”

Citizens are either suffering or dying. It’s time to take stock, Dr Rowley. You might even be an example to the rest of the world.