Pinched nerve? No, heart attack!

THE EDITOR: Please allow me some space in your newspapers to tell a short story. Approximately nine weeks ago in the wee hours of the morning my father awoke with some severe pains in the left side of his chest and arms. Naturally the left side being the side with the heart we worriedly rushed him to the General Hospital. To our relief he was diagnosed with a pinched nerve in his neck. The following weekend due to continued and persistent pains in the left side we again took him to the general hospital, again we were told that it was due to a pinched nerve.

Dissatisfied with the prognosis my father visited numerous private doctors including our very own family doctor. Numerous tests were done; all the doctors diagnosed the same thing: pinched nerve in the chest and arms, and he was treated as such. Approximately six weeks ago my father died from massive heart failure, which was caused by  a heart attack that occurred weeks before which was undetected and untreated. The autopsy report showed that the heart attack was caused by a blood clot that if treated with something as simple as baby aspirin could have saved his life.

This story is just to highlight that the entire health sector, both public and private, is in shambles. The doctors in the hospitals are de-motivated by their working conditions and their salaries, and most private doctors are solely motivated by money and not the well-being of their patients. Please Mr Imbert and Mr Manning, do something about our unacceptable health sector before our fathers, our brothers, our sisters and our mothers are killed. Please save the citizens of our country before we become extinct.

SANCHEL FERREIRA
Morvant