RUDY CHATO PAUL, SR

FOR THE past couple weeks, I have been assisting a close family member, driving them to and from the Couva Hospital. The person, like many, was desperately seeking to get an appointment for cataract surgery.

I recall my first visit to the venue. The main entrance was not from the highway, which I found rather confusing. Though I had passed the 'edifice complex' on numerous occasions since its construction, I never had any business there. As we approached the Couva exit, heading south, a sign said 'Couva Hospital exit here.' I did.

I followed the signs along the winding road, keeping to my right, which eventually led to a roundabout. No direction was required as the hospital stood on the hill, in the distance. We followed the road and made our way to the institution.

The service from the staff, from what I was told, was rather pleasant. I had no dealings with any of them. I was just the chauffeur. A rather observant one at that, as a washed-up sociologist.

As we arrived at the destination I noted we had driven past the entrance off the highway. And I said to myself: self, how much easier would it have been had the highway entrance been an option? I wondered about the brain surgeons in charge of making that decision.

I subsequently asked someone I recognised to be a staff member, by their uniform, why that entrance was not used. The response was that 'it's for emergency uses only, and officials.' Meanwhile, the proletarians are required to use the 'back entrance.' I recall people relegated to 'back entrances' from a period not so long ago.

I noted how underutilised the hospital was, given the gross madness which exists at the other state-run medical institutions. The horror stories coming out of those institutions include patients sleeping and dying on gurneys, waiting in wheelchairs for days before being attended to, sleeping on floors…babies' deaths not included.

After a couple visits to this institution I became quite familiar with the route. At least I thought I was, until my visit a couple days ago. As I approached the 'back entrance' designated for us serfs, a few unpleasant historical events crossed my mind. I recall Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)'s words: "If we cannot sit at the same table then knock the bleeping legs off."

Lo and behold, I was informed that no one was any longer allowed to enter from the back entrance. The entrance was now off the highway. Apparently it was a decision taken sometime last week by, I am assuming, whichever regional health authority with responsibility for the Couva area.

Why was this a well-kept secret? Given the myriad social media platforms, where information is shared, from lost "dawgs" to million-dollar reward on sharks, to stealing a taxi drivers' phone, why has the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) refused to share this pertinent piece of information with the general public? Is it that they do not wish the public to utilise the hospital?

Why are the signs at the side of the highway still saying 'exit h