THE Professor Seemungal Covid-19 report seems glossed over as a political ploy to placate the masses.
This report is just to make the government look good and has no basis in reality.
The completed report was laid in Parliament on Friday by the Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young.
The five-member committee was headed by Professor Terence Seemungal and included Professor Emerita Phyllis Pitt-Miller, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, Dr Vidya Dean and Professor Donald Simeon.
The committee has to be joking to give a “pass mark” to the state for the handling of the pandemic. In what reality are they living? I can’t see how any reasonable thinking medical professional can give a “pass mark” to the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are not serious!
There are many accounts by persons quarantined in the parallel health system of being treated poorly, with very little food, sustenance, medical attention and only two Panadol to ease their pain and fever.
The accounts given by the patients on how they were treated were heartbreaking to say the least. There are accounts of persons who died in the parallel health system hospitals that are in total contradiction of this ‘pass mark’. Are these doctors on the committee just saying what they need to say, in order to keep their jobs? In order not to get a backlash from the government?
The committee should not have bothered if they were just trying to appease the government by acceding to their demands. Given the time frame for the report, it was stated by the committee that ‘Views of relatives of Covid-19 patients’ was an area that needed further investigation. Then how can you give a “pass mark” for this? How can you give the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the health care system put in place by Minister Deyalsingh a “pass mark” when we have heard so much outcry from citizens that entered the system?
The committee stated, “We could not assess their views due to the time constraints of this rapid assessment. We noted that relatives had no or limited access to patients during admission. We recommend a formal survey of the views of relatives of patients who were cared for in the parallel health care system.”
This whole report seems like a cover-up to appease the government and deflect from the incompetence of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago.
All I have to say is that such unqualified persons like the minister of health continue to be supported by the government but have no place in the management of this country’s health system at this crucial time, especially during the deadliest health pandemic we have ever faced in our history.
The report is a travesty to all the people that have died and their families that have lost their loved ones.
We must reject it and ask for an independent report, a new committee that has no allegiances to the current regime or depends on jobs from them.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Master in Business Administration. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.
Commentary: Reject the Seemungal Covid-19 Report
THE Professor Seemungal Covid-19 report seems glossed over as a political ploy to placate the masses.
This report is just to make the government look good and has no basis in reality.
The completed report was laid in Parliament on Friday by the Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young.
The five-member committee was headed by Professor Terence Seemungal and included Professor Emerita Phyllis Pitt-Miller, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, Dr Vidya Dean and Professor Donald Simeon.
The committee has to be joking to give a “pass mark” to the state for the handling of the pandemic. In what reality are they living? I can’t see how any reasonable thinking medical professional can give a “pass mark” to the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are not serious!
There are many accounts by persons quarantined in the parallel health system of being treated poorly, with very little food, sustenance, medical attention and only two Panadol to ease their pain and fever.
The accounts given by the patients on how they were treated were heartbreaking to say the least. There are accounts of persons who died in the parallel health system hospitals that are in total contradiction of this ‘pass mark’. Are these doctors on the committee just saying what they need to say, in order to keep their jobs? In order not to get a backlash from the government?
The committee should not have bothered if they were just trying to appease the government by acceding to their demands. Given the time frame for the report, it was stated by the committee that ‘Views of relatives of Covid-19 patients’ was an area that needed further investigation. Then how can you give a “pass mark” for this? How can you give the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the health care system put in place by Minister Deyalsingh a “pass mark” when we have heard so much outcry from citizens that entered the system?
The committee stated, “We could not assess their views due to the time constraints of this rapid assessment. We noted that relatives had no or limited access to patients during admission. We recommend a formal survey of the views of relatives of patients who were cared for in the parallel health care system.”
This whole report seems like a cover-up to appease the government and deflect from the incompetence of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago.
All I have to say is that such unqualified persons like the minister of health continue to be supported by the government but have no place in the management of this country’s health system at this crucial time, especially during the deadliest health pandemic we have ever faced in our history.
The report is a travesty to all the people that have died and their families that have lost their loved ones.
We must reject it and ask for an independent report, a new committee that has no allegiances to the current regime or depends on jobs from them.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Master in Business Administration. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.