MPATT: We told you so

The findings of an inquiry done by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) into perinatal and infant mortality rates in TT, and the state of neonatal units at major hospitals has vindicated what local doctors have said and repeated over the years about the deplorable state of the nation’s hospitals. “The doctors pleas, cries and suggestions for the Ministry of Health to take notice of its institutions have all but fallen on deaf ears. The doctors have, in turn, been accused by various politicians and the Ministry of being mischievous, political and misguiding the population,” the Medical Professionals Association of TT (MPATT) said in a media release yesterday.

The doctors allege that the Health Ministry has repeatedly ignored medical crises at institutions and have gone so far as to say that major disease outbreaks are fabricated by doctors for political means. MPATT reiterated what the doctors have been telling the authorities — the World Health Organisation figures show that TT has been spending between 2-2.5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product in the health sector. WHO has recommended that this should be 4-5 percent of GDP for developing countries. MPATT said TT is far below its Caribbean counterparts — Jamaica (which spends 4.5 percent), Barbados (four percent) and Cuba 5.5 percent. In comparison, Britain and the United States each spend six percent.

MPATT said a nation’s infant mortality rate (IMR) is a direct marker of the state of the entire health service and of the level of spending in the health sector. They cited the PAHO study which has revealed that the rate is higher than previously reported by the Health Ministry. “It must be noted that even the IMR as reported by the Ministry is unacceptable.” TT’s hospitals are outdated and doctors and nurses have been working under inappropriate conditions with inappropriate equipment for too long. MPATT added that not only have physical institutions been ignored but the human management function of the Ministry and RHAs have also failed. As part of the holistic approach to health, it said the authorities must address the issue of remuneration for doctors and nurses, who have been “treated worse than members of the Public Service.”