Gopeesingh: Make covid committee's findings public now

FORMER UNC MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh is calling for the findings of the five-member medical committee appointed to examine the level of care in the country’s healthcare system, including covid19 deaths, to be made public immediately.

The Prime Minister announced the creation of this committee at a news conference on January 15.

The committee is chaired by Prof Terence Seemungal, dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at UWI.

Other members are Prof Emerita Phyllis Pitt-Miller, consultant anaesthetist and intensive care unit (ICU) specialist, and former dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI; Dr Anton Cumberbatch, former chief medical officer and public health specialist; Dr Vidya Dean, consultant anaesthetist and ICU Specialist; Prof Donald Simeon, director of Caribbean Centre for Health Systems Research and Development and professor of Biostatistics and Research at UWI.

The committee’s terms of reference are to identify the profile of the patients who died from covid19; review the definition of “covid19 death” used by the Ministry of Health for consistency with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and standard practice; and comment on the different methodologies for calculating case fatality rate.

It will examine the admission, discharge and transfer policy and procedure to determine the impact, if any, on clinical outcome, and whether the treatment and management protocols adopted by hospitals are consistent with WHO guidelines and international best practice.

It is also expected to review the standards of care of covid19 patients and identify any other factors that may affect clinical outcomes.

On January 15, Dr Rowley said in a week's time, the committee was expected to send a report to the Government and make recommendations. He said its findings would be made public.

During the virtual health news conference on Wednesday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the committee had been given a three-week extension to complete its work, after a request from Seemungal.

Deyalsingh did not ask why an extension was needed but informed Rowley about the request, and said the PM agreed to it.

He added, “We at the Ministry of Health are not micromanaging the issue. It has to be a fair, transparent, independent issue."

In a statement on Thursday, Gopeesingh said the committee must publish its findings immediately if "it is to preserve any shred of credibility." After doing this, he insisted the committee provide weekly updates to the public about its findings and recommendations, instead of waiting till the end of the three-week extension.

"No committee could therefore possibly investigate and report on Rowley’s nonexistent, nonfunctional, and disastrous and failed so-called parallel healthcare system in just one week," he commented.

Gopeesingh claimed the extension given to the committee reinforces this point, made by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and himself.

Describing the appointment of the committee as a sham, Gopeesingh reiterated Persad-Bissessar's call for a covid19 commission of inquiry.

He also claimed the senior officials of certain regional health authorities (RHAs) have reportedly given instructions for the accident and emergency departments, covid19 tents, high dependency units (HDUs) and intensive care units (ICUs) to be sanitised and populated with enough nurses, doctors, paramedical staff and equipment, so as to give a false impression that they are properly managed.

Gopeesingh alleged this was being done after the committee advised these officials of the dates and times they would be visiting different RHAs.

He urged the committee to ensure that it properly interviews a wide range of covid19 patients, the families of covid19 victims and independent hospital staff members who have given anonymous interviews to the media in the past, to effectively determine the true state of covid19 care at these hospitals.