Dear Editor,
Leadership is about taking responsibility and for this reason President Harry Truman had positioned in his office a plaque with the quote, “The buck stops here.” And certainly that’s a true leader.
Covid is taking over Guyana because PPP saw Covid as a sideshow. Their management is nothing short of a catastrophe. A few weeks ago we thankfully had a reduction in death rates and PPP behaved like if they had developed a Covid cure. First, they arrogantly banned only Trinidadians from entering Guyana, unless with Covid vaccines. Secondly they ban Guyanese from all Government buildings unless with PPP-approved vaccines. Then so pompous they became that they banned people from seeking healthcare or visiting love ones unless with PPP-approved vaccines. Foolishly they believed that a pandemic could be beaten out with a big stick.
Now after a mass banning and exclusions, Covid deaths and hospitalisations are increasing for which Dr. Frank Anthony took the podium to explain PPP position. But rather than accept that the buck stop with PPP, he went on a campaign of blaming the people.
And here is some of the hogwash that emanated from his mouth; “We have had a steady increase in cases. So, this is showing us that we have an upswing of cases and we have to take extra precaution now. I think people have become a little bit complacent, not adhering strictly to the measures, not going out to get vaccinated and protecting themselves,”
And here is more public shaming and blaming by Dr. Anthony,
“These measures, they are simple measures that one can take to make sure that you prevent…getting infected with COVID-19. Some people, they do the measures but they do them in a very sporadic manner, that doesn’t work, if you’re going to do them you have to do it consistently.”
And this was paraphrased by Village Voice
“The Minister is also reminding the public to continue wearing masks in public spaces, sanitise frequently and practice social distancing. Rooms should be properly ventilated and masks must be worn correctly, covering both nose and mouth, the Minister reiterated.”
The fact is, the likely causes for the upsurge in deaths and hospitalisations are the delta variants along with ineffective vaccines. Even if the people are not adhering to Public Health measure, it is the responsibility of PPP to enforced such. Therefore, that too is a failure on their part. The fact is, PPP cannot whip people to take unapproved vaccines. The people will fight back. Again PPP failure. The whole nonsense of rooms being adequately ventilated is full scale foolery. Where the ventilation is needed are schools, hospitals, government ministries etc.
But Mr. Editor, the evidence is clear. When Hospitals are overrun and intensive care is overflowing, the only solution is a lockdown. I’ve written columns on this with the supporting evidence. And without doubt the evidence is on the WHO website. But would PPP institute a lockdown? NO. There friends in the business community don’t want that. So what would they do? They will blame the long suffering people.
Regards
Dr Mark Devonish MBBS MSc. Med. Ed. FRCP(Edin) FRCP
Consultant Acute Medicine
Nottingham University Hospital
UK
