And it’s ever so often, we are inundated with the most attention-grabbing headlines, boasting of an extraordinary Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) surgical first. However, intentionally misleading are these headlines, since they serve the sole purpose of creating the façade, that healthcare is developing under this PPP. In fact, even as the PPP Healthcare Sector undertake these complex surgical first, the evidence is, they aren’t carried out thereafter.
Moreover, even though these first world surgical interventions are being undertaken at GPHC, the reality is, they are carried out by highly qualified overseas specialists. As a result, when these overseas specialists leave, which is mostly in a matter of weeks, they take with them their expertise, making those headline GPHC surgical first, a most forgettable GPHC surgical last.
Having said that, our Healthcare Sector is in the early embryonic stage, where the basics of medicine, tragically missing in our setting, are needed to save lives. In fact, even as PPP Healthcare Sector boast of these fleeting first world interventions, that we aren’t developmentally ready for, the evidence is, we are lacking in the basic Primary Care. And it’s a direct consequence of this nonexistent Primary Care, which is essentially Preventive Medicine, that patients continue to die from the common ailments of diabetes and hypertension.
However, despite these tragic realities of thousands of avoidable deaths from diabetes and hypertension, PPP careless since they are tunnel-visioned on those surgical first, which provide them with political headlines. So even as they exhilaratingly celebrate these extraordinary surgical first, the fact remain is, there is a tragic deficit in Preventive Medicine, such that tens of thousands are dying from preventable diseases, e.g. cardiovascular disease.
Thus, it’s for these underpinning reasons, in the context of tens of thousands of avoidable deaths, that this columnist has consistently argued, our healthcare should be one where the focus is on getting the basics right, through Preventive Medicine, before adventuring to the first world complex. For this is the painful reality that confronts us, whilst PPP endeavours to undertake first world surgical interventions, we have one of the highest rates of infant mortality, many of whom are dying from basic preventable infections.
In fact, whilst PPP endeavour to undertake first world surgical interventions, we have one of the highest rates of maternal mortality, as our mothers are exsanguinating from the preventable post-partum haemorrhage. Moreover, whilst PPP endeavours to undertake first world surgical interventions, we have one of the highest rates of neonatal mortality, as our babies are dying from preventable infections and prematurity.
Then compounding these mortalities, as the PPP endeavour to undertake first world surgical interventions, are the astronomically high malnutrition rates, in our infants and pre-pubertal children. The fact is, these catastrophic indices, evidence a Healthcare Sector that is crying out for a functional Primary Care, vis-à-vis Preventive Medicine, rather than those politically promoted surgical first.
However, PPP careless about Primary Care, since by its very nature, it will not provide the attention-grabbing political headlines. Furthermore, PPP careless about Primary Care, since it will not provide the façade of a Healthcare Sector making first world progress, through these extraordinary surgical first. But even as they boast of their Healthcare Sector making first world progress, the fact is, the Healthcare Sector, with a nonexistent Primary Care, is actually in a state of accelerated regression.
And this regression is no more evident, than with our highest rate of preventable deaths, underpinning our lowest life expectancy, in this hemisphere. In fact, these tragic indices, add further credence to the argument, our Healthcare Sector isn’t ready for these complex first world interventions, when we are getting the basics catastrophically wrong. That being said, diabetes and hypertension remain our number one cause of mortality, which can only be remedied with developmental emphasis on Preventive Primary Care, rather than these politically promoted surgical first.
