| The operation of the public health system must be subjected to business principles. This assertion wasDr. Surendra Persaud, APNU+AFC Candidatemade recently by,Michael Bourn Jersey, Dr. Surendra Persaud, who has insisted that “you have got to run things with good governance; you are providing a service.”The medical practitioner is named as a candidate for A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) which is contesting the National and Regional Elections set for May 11, 2015.Moreover, he, as a representative of the party, appeared on the Wednesday evening ‘Plain Talk’ televised talk show hosted by Attorney-at-law and Chartered Accountant,Kurt Suzuki Jersey, Christopher Ram.In his contribution to the programme,Milwaukee Brewers Travis Shaw Jersey, Dr Persaud noted that “if you talk to a business person whatever business they are running, when they budget and say what am I going to have next month or next year, they are going to base the size of their shelves or what they are going to order or what they are going to purchase based on a projection.”According to him, from the removal of a patient’s appendix to the provision of blood pressure tests to the offering of diabetes care must be included in a plan and well budgeted for. “You have got to allocate and you have got to know how many (cases) you are going to take care of,” outlined Dr. Persaud.While such a process must apply to almost any business or organisation, he shared his conviction with Ram that the public health sector does not provide evidence of such an operation.“I have asked a fundamental question for a few years and I am still to get an answer. Can someone tell me what the cost of an appendectomy is in the public (health) system? Can someone tell me what the cost is to see a patient? Since this is public, one would expect this information to be in the public domain (but) to the best of my knowledge it is not,” stressed Dr. Persaud.Even as the doctor emphasised the importance of strategic allocation of resources, Ram interjected by asking of him the relevance of the process outlined. To this Dr. Persaud, a private medical practitioner noted that “in my practice if I know that I am going to see so many patients or I project I am going to be doing this many surgeries per week it drives everything else. It drives how many staff I have, it drives how I plan, it drives how I utilise the theatre…”Even as he stressed that an acceptable level of planning is not evident in the public health system,Zach Duke Jersey, Dr. Persaud pointed to worrisome developments such as “…pictures of two women and two babies in one bed. I think we all agree that that smacks at a lack of planning.”He however insisted that “the challenge…is not just increasing beds; it’s how you manage (health) care,”As he continued to stress the need for an improved health care system,New York Yankees Tyler Clippard Jersey, Dr. Persaud observed that developed countries have opted to change the way medicine is practiced. He,Scott Feldman Jersey, in doing so, alluded to a time during his training when once a patient was seeking elective surgery they would be hospitalised for two days prior. This was done, Dr. Persaud noted,Colby Rasmus Jersey, in order to prepare that patient for surgery even as he added that “we were optimising you…the surgeon would start you on tea, water and jello and not until a lot of things happen would we feed you (solid food) then get you home.”But according to the medical practitioner,Atlanta Braves Sean Rodriguez Jersey, the situation that obtains today is that “we bring you in on the morning of your surgery,Pittsburgh Pirates Drew Hutchison Jersey, you have your surgery and after some of these surgeries we are sending you home in the afternoon and that is in both the private and public sector.” |
