Our Healthcare Debate Is Healthy

DEAR SIR
YOUR May 5th issue carried several articles on what appears to be public concerns relating to health matters in St. Lucia, to which I’d like to add my voice, as a patient in the health service in St. Lucia, India & Martinique.

As a victim of a traffic accident on May 16th 2014, I sustained injuries to my left shoulder, wrist and rib cage.

I was treated and discharged from Victoria Hospital and continued surgery at Tapion. There, I did a correctional surgery to my wrist and a metal brace was inserted to my left Clavicle.

My condition didn’t improve, in fact it worsened, despite repeated visits to both hospitals.

On the recommendation of friends, I travelled to India and was examined at the Apollo hospital and informed that there was no alternative to amputation. I did not accept that option and returned to St. Lucia, unsure of my next move.

Thanks again to advice from friends, I travelled to Martinique to La Meynard and was relieved to discover that although I would not regain full use of my arm, amputation was not obligatory.

I am therefore acutely aware of the quality of the service at three healthcare providers.

In that regard, I wonder why there isn’t more public involvement in ongoing discussions — and in particular that announcements by the government seem to focus on the involvement of the Indian Health City option, without any reference to our neighbours in Martinique, where first world medical care is available.

I would therefore urge the beneficiaries of the French healthcare service to add their voices to the discussions on the future of the delivery of healthcare in St. Lucia

Krishna Momerelle