Fyzabad MP, Lackram Bodoe says the Prime Minister is out of touch with reality when it concerns the health sector in Trinidad and Tobago.
Bodoe’s statement comes after Dr. Keith Rowley chastised the citizenry on Monday at the opening of the Ministry of Health’s new administrative building in Port of Spain.
Rowley opined that citizens are ungrateful, shouldn’t complain, and that the public healthcare system in this country is “better than most and better than many.”
However, Bodoe said it is really a concern when the Prime Minister refuses to see and acknowledge the glaring realities that citizens and staff are faced with on a daily basis in the public healthcare system.
Bodoe, in a release, said: “It would seem as though the Prime Minister, and his government, is content to bury their collective heads in the sand and pretend that all is well in this country.”
“He, along with the Minister of Health, seem to be blissfully unaware of the long waiting times for clinic appointments, the long waiting times for surgeries, the lack of medicines and other basic supplies, the lack of maintenance of critical medical equipment, issues regarding employment and terms and conditions of doctors and nurses, poor nurse to patient ratio, and the list goes on and on.”
Bodoe added: “I am sure that the Prime Minister remembers, and have taken note of, the protest by nurses who took to the streets of Port of Spain recently to highlight their concerns and long-standing issues which ultimately impact negatively on patients’ care. This is a serious matter that ought not to be trivialised by this government.”
“The Prime Minister also needs to ask his Minister of Health some serious questions. Some of these include: Why are there no cataract surgeries being undertaken at the San Fernando General Hospital for the past 2 months? What is the delay in getting phacoemulsification machines for the hospital? Additionally, now that the Covid19 pandemic is over, why are state of the art equipment (CT and MRI scanners) at the Couva Hospital not being made available to citizens?
He said the Prime Minister has to be honest with himself as to the current state of the public healthcare system. He needs to stop berating and bullying citizens and fix the system so that those who access public health services are given the proper treatment and care that they are entitled to.