Chattergoon: Health Minister to blame for SFGH’s demise

“Health services at the San Fernando General Hospital have unquestionably deteriorated under your watch and your stewardship as Minister of Health,” Chattergoon told Minister of Health Terrance Deyalsingh during the question and answer segment of a public consultation held on Thursday evening in the auditorium of the Naparima Boys College. “There is no question about that in my mind. And the patients are undergoing trials and tribulations, terrors and horrors, such as they have never gone through before.” Chattergoon, who served as the hospital’s medical director for five years before being replaced last July, said the hospital’s demise was the result of “two serious blunders” made by the health minister. “The first was, the revolutionary initiative which your predecessor had put at the San Fernando Gen (sic), which was to have a number on the walls of the hospital that patients can call when they have a problem, that initiative has been shut down.” Though not directly stated by Chattergoon, it was later revealed in the response from the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Chairman, Dr Alexander Sinanan, that the phone number which used to be on the hospital walls was Chattergoon’s. Sinanan explained that having the number of a single person on the hospital walls was impractical because patients would have been left without service should Chattergoon have been unavailable.

The number, said Sinanan, was replaced with a customer service line, but Chattergoon said the replacement number does not work.

Chattergoon said the second reason for the hospital’s deterioration was the appointment of an unsuitable medical director. The doctor had raised this point in a letter sent via email to Deyalsingh and SWRHA deputy chairman, Valerie Rawlins in July 2016, in which he questioned whether SWRHA CEO Anil Gosine was biased in the appointment of Dr Pravinde Ramoutar as Ag Medical Director.

“You made a bad choice,” Chattergoon thundered. “You put the wrong person in the position of medical director of the Sando General Hospital sir. And I can tell you for a fact, sir, in this situation you need a medical director who cares about the people.” Sinanan responded to the criticism of Deyalsingh, saying that the minister was not responsible for the hiring of medical directors.