My hell’t woes are many

When yuh come-plain bout de inadequacies and inefficiencies in our Hell’t Services in SVG, party fan-at-ticks want to eat off yuh head, while others prefer to be de proverbial ostrich and bury dey own head. Now we are not short ah good Doctors and Nurses eh, ah believe in answer to people’s prayers, dat de Good Lord uses de staff at our Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), to perform miracles and magic, and let me add, not just de MCMH lacking terribly, but de entire Hell’t Service in SVG.{{more}} Lie-Za visits de Mental Home and de Lewis Punnet (senior citizens) Home to experience real Labour Love. By dem places it’s painful to watch how we treat our less fortunate citizens.

Talking Hell’t, maybe dis is as good ah time as any to remind men to have dey Pass-straight tested foh Cancer as well as de Cervix and Breasts foh our women. Ah had my own experience at de MCMH when ah was having signs of and was eventually die-ah-nose with Pass-straight Cancer. Dr Garraway sent me foh ah blood test foh de disease; only to be told by de technician de cost was $60.00 but dey did not have de what-ever-it-was to do de test. Ah got it done at ah private clinic, way it cost me three times as much. Ah wish dat Senior citizens like me and others, after years ah service to country and paying taxes, should not have to pay foh basic medical services.

After de blood test which ah didn’t get at MCMH, ah needed ah buy-up-see test, dat too ah did not get. Dey was no equipment at de Hospital; luckily and thankfully, Dr Rohan DeShong who owns one at his Clinic did de honours. Next was an Ultra Sound but de Go-venom-mint’s Ultra Sound machine was some-way in Victoria Park, relaxing under ah tarpaulin, when dey finally created a space to set it up, it did not funk-shun!

Dat was four years ago; last month ah visited ah friend at MCMH, de Nurses were scrambling, dey needed Saline and dey was none, no way in de Hospital. Saline is ah solution dat Dr Baldwin King taught us Form 4 Science Students at Grammar School to make, using sodium chloride, (ordinary table salt); but de MCMH did not even have Saline.

Two months ago, ah scent-ah-pee bit my son so ah rushed down to de Hospital at 11:00 pm de same night, people were dey waiting foh ah Doctor since morning at 9:00, ah tired looking but very pleasant Nurse told me to have ah seat and someone will come and attend to my son. Two hours later and we had not seen anybody; so at 1:00 a.m de morning, we decided to go home.

My villager who is die-ah-bit-ache was admitted wid ah sore on his left foot; he heard about de medication from Cuba foh treating his kind ah sores; dey is such ah medi-care-shun, ah overs it’s costly, but dey’s none at de MCMH, patients are told it’s coming in another couple weeks but dat will be too late foh my near-bah, so after two months of watching, waiting and resting in hospital, de doctor finally told him he has three days to make up his mind foh de inevitable, amputation!

Ah sharing personal encounters so folks will overs dat Hell’t Care in SVG is ah cry-Sis situation; but it is not ah priority wid de ULP Go-venom-mint. Dey priority is either Public Assistance, darm pull-it-tek-all bribe, way dey Hand-pick young and able supporters who rather dan demand work, prefer to be another number on de stat-is-tics! Or Share out free galvanize, lumber and cement and hope to win elect-shuns and stay in Power! No wonder dey were stunned as if hit by ah Mike Tyson knock-out punch, when NDP drop ah Bomb last week Sat-dey night in de form of ah State-ah-de-Art Hospital dat will be one ah de party’s priority. However, de Come-red did done announce last month dat he was going to build ah State-ah-de-Art Hospital wid twelve cinemas oops, theatres at Arnos Vale de new See-Tea! Lie-Za sware dat dis Hospital Talk is another of PM Gone-soft Fun-to-see moments, like de State-ah-de art Die-all-assist Centre at Georgetown now in its seventh year of construction, E needah coming nor going! She thinks dat Arnos Vale will be ah good locate-shun at de entrance of yet another ULP Turn-ill vision thru Cane Garden; or next to de State-ah-de-Art Stay-dum at Die-man. Somebody say close to de abandoned Cross Country Road will be compatible.

Now according to de unpublished Parties Man-ah-fete-so, we will be getting two State-of-de-Art Hospitals, one for ULP supporters, de other for NDP supporters. But after dat Argyle Airport experience dat is now triple de cost and taking triple de time to complete; ah trust de NDP on dis one. My personal dealings as ah Surveyor wuking wid Daniel Cummings at CWSA and Arm-in Use-tuss as Devco CEO, and Admin Cadet as well as PS at de Ministry of Agriculture, tells me dat dey are not men to B S people. If dey say dey going to build ah State of de Art Hospital dey will do exactly dat. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.