- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 12/Aug 04:13

Little comfort from USNS Comfort

THE EDITOR: I am writing to share a different perspective on the recent medical mission by the USNS Comfort medical ship, which has been widely praised as a success. While the intentions of the American medical team are surely good, the reality on the ground was far from the picture of triumph being painted by our Ministry of Health. On August 6, it rained and drizzled into the morning of August 7. I arrived at the National Academy for the Performing Arts venue at 5.45 am in the drizzling rain. The sight that greeted me was heartbreaking. Hundreds of our citizens, many of them elderly, were huddled under tents. I observed there insufficient tents for the crowd. Some had been there since 2 am, desperate for medical attention. I saw people in wheelchairs and on walkers, a testament to their urgent need and the immense challenges they were willing to endure for a chance at care. The scene felt less like a medical mission and more like a historical injustice — a shocking display of how our most vulnerable citizens are treated. I was so saddened by what I saw that I left without seeking treatment myself. The following day, I was dismayed to read newspaper accounts from women who shared their own terrible experiences. These stories confirmed my fears: many of our people were severely mistreated in their desperate quest for help. I believe it is a national disgrace that our citizens must line up for hours in the rain, treated with such a lack of dignity, to receive basic medical care. While the government praises this mission, it ignores the shameful conditions that made it necessary in the first place. This experience reveals the profound failures of our own healthcare system. We must question why our citizens are so dependent on these missions and why our government is so quick to celebrate them without acknowledging the inhumane conditions they create. This is not a success story. It is gross embarrassment to the less fortunate in TT. It is a stark reminder of the work our country still needs to do to ensure that every citizen, regardless of their income, has access to dignified and timely medical care. CAROLINE WILLIAMS via e-mail The post Little comfort from USNS Comfort appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.