IF anyone was hoping that the recent contributions of doctors to our political discourse –the politicisation of our doctors if you will — would eventually simmer down and become a thing of the past, they would be bitterly disappointed: a top regional doctor has expressed solidarity with and support for the local doctors and other medical staff who have voiced their concerns about the state of the country’s healthcare plans.
Dr. Richard Ishmael has expressed support for St. Lucia’s own Medical and Dental Association and their recent activism against the Government of St. Lucia.
Dr. Ishmael, the President of the Caribbean Cardiac Society (CCS), was in St. Lucia last week at the 33rd Annual Caribbean Cardiology Conference, where in an interview, he not only expressed his support for the SLMDA, but advocated for even more political lobbying by doctors in the region.
“I agree wholeheartedly with the Association here and that is what we are doing here at the CCS,” said Ishmael, speaking about the SLMDA and its very public criticism of the UWP over the country’s healthcare crisis.
The Association has been criticised for alleged bias against the Allen Chastanet Administration and its handling of the country’s healthcare, with sceptics stating that such boisterous criticism was absent under similar conditions with the Labour Administration.
Critics of the Association also say that doctors should not be affiliated with such political activism, given that it may cause a conflict of interest with their typical work.
However, Dr. Ishmael is not of that opinion.
Regarding the actions of the SLMDA, he asserted that the buck shouldn’t stop there and doctors should be more politically-active and vocal when it comes to healthcare and political issues, alluding to what he described as very politically active medical associations in North America.
“What we want to do is we want to be able to lobby the governments and the decision makers…” Dr. Ishmael stated, explaining that “Other people, other doctors in the USA, Canada” all do so with their governments.
He listed health organisations in the U.S. and said “they all lobby their governments to be able to get what they want, to bring the mortality [rate] down and it’s about time that the doctors in the Caribbean do that.”
On the website (escardio.org) this sentiment is confirmed as it reads: “The CCS has also sought to have an impact on the formulation of policies related to health across the region. Toward that end, it has engaged with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on issues related to cardiovascular health.”
