Crappy People Really should be what CPR stands for at the Accident & Emergency, really the "Wait Till Yuh Dead" department at Mt Hopeless Hospital.
Courtesy Professionalism and Respect indeed represent a laudable pun on the medical term Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation, but not at Mt Hopeless Hospital.
I took a 70-year-old person who had earlier collapsed to the hospital on Monday evening and 12, yes, 12 hours later he had not yet seen a doctor. But I saw many doctors strutting around, chest puffed-up and stethoscope prominently displayed around their necks, being totally oblivious to the many patients, some sitting on the floor because there was no empty chair.
Getting to triage, which really means "the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room!) according to the urgency of their need for care," took three hours and this after my many pleadings to the triage nurse.
Some of the other patients who were also awaiting triage were complaining loudly about the lack of attention for the 70-year-old man. Imagine that, other patients, where no politics or ethnicity surfaced, were angry that attention had not been given to this patient.
Mt Hopeless may have redefined "triage" to mean "first come, first served." It definitely does not have its true meaning. There was also another elderly woman, on a wheelchair, who was obviously in pain but no attention.
The peacock doctors were all unapproachable. I tried multiple times to elicit a response by saying "Good Night" or "Good Morning," but I may have been speaking another language or been invisible. They all continued walking. What oath do they swear by, the Hippocritic or Hippocratic Oath? Our country has expended vast sums of money to educate these doctors and nurses to provide care to people.
Being academically qualified does not imply understanding or ability to care. The medical faculty should immediately amend its acceptance criteria to have a customer service aptitude test prior to acceptance, as well as being a prerequisite for graduation.
One of the internship courses should be customer care, which should be evaluated by the patients, not anyone else. Failure will necessitate a maximum of two additional attempts not less than six months apart and continued failure will result in no medical degree being awarded. Patient care cannot be compromised.
Building additional health centres and hospitals, whilst laudable, are of no real value if the primary objective, patient care, is not being met.
Oh! I took the 70-year old patient to San Fernando Hospital where he was attended to with a great degree of compassion.
Harjoon Heeralal
Carapichaima