Opinion
Newsday
JEROME TEELUCKSINGH
“My life had been such an emotional roller coaster; the childhood loneliness and hurts, the disappointments, the prejudices, the bias and the hate, the success and the achievements, the ingratitude, the bad decisions, the misunderstandings, the absence of vision…the selfishness of many, the lack of humanity in mankind.”
These were the thoughts that flashed through the mind of Dr Colin Furlonge, medical doctor, whilst he was being robbed by bandits in 2016.
In 2024, Furlonge launched a memorable book titled – The Autobiography of Dr Colin Furlonge: In the Public Service of Trinidad and Tobago. This lively autobiography with endnotes and appendices reflects the life a boy from Chaguanas who would later leave an indelible mark in the field of medicine.
The publication encompasses his early childhood and teenaged years, career choices and later life as a doctor. It’s a detailed work that will be useful to those in the health system, politics, trade unionism and law.
He captures the scenes and some personalities of Chaguanas during the 20th century.
There is a description of major buildings which no longer exist including the Jubilee and Star cinemas and Mr Chung’s Shop. Also included are personalities as Vasconellos, the Portuguese winery owner, Isaac Sinanan a Standard Five teacher at Chaguanas Government and later School Supervisor, and Reginald Dumas.
He mentioned St Thomas Village also known locally as Boot Hill. Furlonge’s family possessed an admirable work ethic and valued education.
During the 1980s, Furlonge’s desire to specialise in dermatology met a roadblock as his applications for full-pay study leave were rejected. He was also overlooked for a Commonwealth Scholarship.
In Chapter 10, he discusses the departure from the Public Services Association (PSA) and the early formation of the Medical Professional Association of TT in the 1990s.
In 2002, Colin said of a former trade union leader, “She had used us to fight the UNC government. Now she had betrayed us to the PNM government.” Colin now understood the games some trade union leaders love to play.
The empathy of this doctor is obvious as he recounts the horrible conditions in a local hospital, of “a young man with cerebral palsy shivering on a gurney with a single sheet on him.” And, Furlonge mentions seeing an elderly man on a mattress that was soiled with urine and faeces.
Such graphic descriptions reminded me of the deplorable health care in TT the 20th century. Some of this was documented by Vincent Tothill in – Trinidad’s Doctor Office: The amusing diary of a Scottish Physician in Trinidad during the 1920s.
The toxic work environment is addressed in Chapter 15 that focuses on allegations and investigations. And, Chapter 16 outlines the tribunal that dealt with these issues. Readers will sense the joy and relief when the doctor revealed he was exonerated of disciplinary charges.
It reminded me of the recent victimisation of another eminent doctor from San Fernando.
And, readers will understand Furlonge’s bitterness against those people in the Public Service who committed “wicked and nefarious” acts against him. Chapter 19, titled “Another Set of Rules for the Public Service” should be an eye-opener for those who believe the public service is fair.
Imagine there was an issue of payments, that dragged on for more than ten years. It was money owed to senior doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for their on-call and consultation. The then Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health said this was not resolved because the doctors, now retired, had not submitted rosters.
However, Colin claimed that other doctors received these allowances including overtime payment without submitting rosters and without working!
After reading this book, I recalled the horrific tragedies that unfolded at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the PoSGH in 2023 and 2024.
The headline of an article, in April 2024, in the Express was – 19 babies died at Neonatal Intensive Care.
As expected the issue was politicised. There is the troubling question that still persists – could the tragedy be avoided if the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility was operational?
Many countries do not give priority to their health care systems. Some younger people might know a video game, Happy Hospital. And, in the real world, in India, there is the Happy Hospitals (based in Guntur) and yes, the Happy and Healthy Hospital located in Gujarat.
Maybe in the next century there will be public and private hospitals, across the globe, where patients and medical staff would genuinely refer to these institutions as healthy and happy.
