Sometime around 2004, I attended a function and saw Mr Kamaluddin Mohammed. As I approached him, he spoke first: “How are you going, Philip?”
This was surprising as this was the very first time we were meeting.
Later I found out that somehow he knew about me and he always addressed you in a very casual manner. I was told that this existed from way back then. I was very taken back by his down-to-earth conversation, which we then had.
Recently, in his last days in hospital, I reminded him of his simple comment as Minister of Health: “If I cannot fix the public healthcare system, no one will.”
His simple reply was: “Philip, you remembered that?”
As the person responsible for the building of the Mount Hope Complex Maternity Hospital and Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, it was thus unfortunate that he was not afforded VIP treatment by having an ambulance take him home for that last time. Knowing “Kamal,” he would not have made a fuss.
Today, the public healthcare system is in shambles and another committee of former healthcare workers is appointed to present a solution. It was not able to do so whilst in active service, so how will it be able to provide a solution today?
Like Dr Petronella Manning said: “No more committees for me, time to implement corrective measures.”
But first, you need to have the right people with the right mentality, morals and ethics to carry out the job. Today, this is lacking in the present administrative structure of the RHAs, which is nothing more than an extension of the public service. The only difference is that the RHAs are micro-managed by the “whims and fancies” of the Minister of Health.
And the comments of Kamaluddin Mohammed, RIP, reverberate: “If I cannot fix the public healthcare system, no one will.”
Philip Ayoung-Chee