Recession or no recession, there are certain things that the government should and shouldn't cut. I am reading in the print media that dialysis for patients who once received it in an External Patients Programme (EPP) has ended in San Fernando. Apparently, many patients who were referred to this service by the public health department to the private sector are no longer being accommodated. It simply means they either have to find the money somehow or left to die. This is what it really comes down to.
Is this what the majority of people voted for last September? There was a system in place by the last government—why change it for the worse? The new government should have tried to make it better—isn’t this what your mandate is—to better our lives?
Can the Minister of Health really come clean with an explanation for this?
I am not a kidney patient nor do I have any relative or friend in this situation. But I am putting myself in their situation and am deeply hurt that our government is doing this to our people. It is not foreigners or ISIS doing this—it is we doing it to ourselves unashamedly.
Having to spend $3,000 per week or $12,000 per month or $144,000 per year for dialysis treatment is something that the state should assist the lower and middle classes. The upper class can take care of themselves. But have a heart for the majority of such citizens.
I know they say “trust no man” but I want to put my head out here that the Prime Minister will intervene. It is not like a person will make up a case and say that he/she needs dialysis. If the state does not want to contract out a private medical provider to do the job then the state owes it to the people to provide it.
Come on Dr Rowley, help us here. I beg on their behalf.
Angie D Vader
Via email