Dear Editor,
We all listened to it as kids. The lyrics was hilarious but the true meaning too deep for our stage of cerebral development. With a few more developed neurons, there is now clarity in the meaning. I am alluding to the pre-schooler song, “Three blind mice.” The infectious lyrics described three three blind mice that were as brazen as they were stupid. Using their gait as the descriptive starting point, simply put it was humorously amusing, so much so that the author of the lyrics mentioned it four times. And storyline went like this. Apparently, the four rodents thought it was wise to run after the farmer’s wife. The farmer’s wife, obviously in state of shock at three blind mice scurrying in her direction, took a carving knife and made a massive swoosh and in the process cuttings off their tails. And the song ended with the question, “Did you ever see such a thing in your life as three blind mice.” I have three here for you.
But, before you start mocking my choice of music, I should bring it to your attention that this song is not a part of my playlist. I just recalled it when I saw the headline of a news article. From the article, the cough and cold doctor, Dr. Frank Anthony, who is masquerading as the Minister of Health sent out an SOS from his failing Ministry. Apparently, a rescue team was set up and blue light to the Ministry of Health. One would have thought that the rescue team would have been professionals who are competent and of some renown. But when I saw them stepped out of the rescue vehicle, I could not help but laughed when I saw they were none other than the three blind mice.
First of the blind mice was Roger Khan’s, the convicted drug dealer, best friend in Dr. Leslie Ramsammy. Dr. Ramsammy is a doctor who is forever locked away in his lab looking at bacteria. He never had clinical exposure to patients since he is not a medical doctor. He is the second worse Minister of Health in Guyana’s history. Under his watch, maternal and foetal mortality was off the scales. Patients were sharing hospital beds. Hospitals were in a deplorable state and staff morale was at an all-time low. Adding to that was the Roger Khan’s court testimony implicating him in an illegal spy wear.
Dr. Bheri Ramsaran was junior Minister of Health before taking over from Dr. Ramsammy in 2011. Actually, Dr. Ramsammy was shifted to Ministry of Agriculture. The prevailing theory was that he can’t go too wrong with the plants. Dr. Ramsaran is yet another Russian-trained cough and cold doctor. Also, he was once a feared heavyweight boxer until he threatened to box the wrong person. He was kicked out in 2015. From all evidence, he is no longer competing in the heavyweight division. The word is that from all appearances he is now featherweight. By consensus he is the worse Minister of Health.
The next is Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo. He has been appointed Director General in the Ministry of Health. Not sure what that means but basic semantics would suggest his role is to direct the failing general. So what do we know about Dr. Mahadeo? He was the RHO of Region 6. He did a Masters in Public Health at the University of Guyana. In effect, Dr. Mahadeo is slightly more qualified than the other cough and cold doctors.
What can we conclude? It is obvious that the masquerading Minister of Health needs assistance. It is obvious to all that the cough and cold doctor is out of his depth. Sadly, under the PPP Government, the COVID-19 numbers are increasing exponentially. Deaths are increasing exponentially. Infection rate is increasing exponentially. The direction of trajectory is quite concerning. I concur that the Ministry of Health needs assistance, but they should seek the assistance from competent professionals. Such competent professionals include, Public Health Specialists, Infectious Disease Specialists, Virologists and Epidemiologists. Sadly, none of the three men have the required skills to turnaround this trend. The only Public Health Specialist in Guyana is Dr. Karen Boyle and she was overlooked for the position of CMO. In my opinion the appointments of these three men is all political. Finally, to answer the earlier question, “Did you ever see such a thing in your life as three blind mice?” was asked. Yes, I have and so have you.
Regards
Dr. Mark Devonish
