Fuad: Patients need timely health services despite income

In a release, Khan said, “it was pleasing to have witnessed such compassion and commitment by fellow colleagues in the medical fraternity, who offered their services to members of the public free of charge in the true spirit of the Christmas season”. For this season Dr Ronnie Bhola gave free surgeries for 25 cataract patients and Dr Vijay Naraynsingh provided 100 patients from the public health sector with free surgeries by a team of 21 surgeons of Medical Associates private hospital.

Khan in the release commented: “While they would have been constricted by the time frame in which they chose to conduct this exercise, it was satisfying to know that at least a few dozen people in our nation are now better able to navigate their lives through the assistance of these medical treatments”.

He continued: “While it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of this generosity however, it must not be overlooked that our public health institutions are still overburdened with persons who require free medical treatment on a more regular basis.

For this reason, while it is commendable that these doctors have demonstrated such exuberance in this instance, one can only hope that they will transfer this same energy into their practice at the public health facilities in 2017 to reduce the waiting time that patients are forced to endure and ease the burden on their colleagues”.

Khan recalled that in 2012 an audit into the Ophthalmology departments at national health facilities indicated that many doctors were under-performing, which resulted in these patients seeking treatment at private hospitals, “where they would be charged considerable amounts of money to perform the very services that could have been received free of charge”.

“In other instances, there have been specialists in various fields who have shied away from their public practice in an effort to profit from their expertise, despite the fact that there were many who required the treatment but unable to meet the financial requirement in the private sector.

While doctors do have the right to earn a living based on their profession, there must be ethical conduct that guides them to ensure that no patient is forced to suffer as a result of their ambition,” he stressed.

Khan said that as a former Minister of Health it his my intention to create a system that would incorporate both private and public institutions to deliver the best and timely health services to the entire nation, despite anyone’s income bracket.

“As doctors we have also sworn an oath to protect and preserve the lives of our fellow human beings, and this should take precedence in the way that we carry about our duties and conduct our practices.

So, as wonderful as their actions of these few doctors during this Christmas season has been, the significance of their generosity would have been undercut had the public health system been able to care for these patients in the manner in which they were intended,” he stressed.

“The question we need to ask therefore, is whether we prefer a system wherein a charity event can rescue a handful of patients from the public health facilities and be lauded as a result, or one in which each and every patient is treated in a timely and efficient manner and can all enjoy a healthier life together with the rest of the nation.”