Uncle Terry’s defence

CHRISTMAS DAY is over, but Terrence Deyalsingh still has a list of those who have been naughty, as opposed to nice.

Three groups are at the top. The first are critics of the healthcare system like Khadijah Ameen; the second are masqueraders who abandon elderly relatives in hospitals over Carnival; and the third are sufferers of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) who overdo it at Christmas time.

As he donned a hat and brought a dose of good cheer to hospital wards this week, Mr Deyalsingh aimed his guns at all, coming to the defence of the hospitals he has responsibility for.

We admire the Health Minister’s work ethic. But we warn him against shooting the messenger. And, when it comes to people suffering from NCDs, we caution him against slipping from Santa Claus mode to the Grinch.

“I don’t know why we take health as a bobolee,” Mr Deyalsingh said on Monday, mixing the Yuletide season with a Good Friday metaphor. He was responding to Ms Ameen’s recent claims that patients in emergency rooms sleep on the floor and some wait years for surgery.

The St Augustine MP is not known for her understated rhetoric. Yet, even if we accept her statements as hyperbole, few can deny the truth: there is a shortage of hospital beds and patients endure long waiting times. Billions are, rightly in our view, being spent by the current Government to upgrade facilities that were long neglected.

Mr Deyalsingh himself provided support for the contention that there are limited resources in the system when he lamented the effect of the practice of people treating hospitals as hotels until Ash Wednesday. That practice is not new. Dr Fuad Khan, the previous health minister, also raised concerns about this behaviour, which sees the State fork out an estimated $15,000 a month per case.

Nor is the problem endemic to this country. In the US, the term “granny dumping” or “packed-suitcase-syndrome” emerged in the 20th century to describe a situation in which people abandoned the elderly with all their belongings at emergency rooms. In Ireland, a scheme subsiding nursing home costs was introduced because of this. The Japanese call the practice ubasute. The universality of the issue suggests it is inherent in countries with ageing populations. Moral suasion alone cannot be the response.

Similarly, the factors that increase people’s susceptibility to NCDs – genetics, stress, lifestyles – are complex. By the minister’s own admission, some stick to strict regimes for 11 months but let loose at Christmas. Passing judgment on these people is not the job of medical officials. And to treat such patients is not to condone their choices. It is to acknowledge that those living in glass houses should not throw stones.