by Raj Jugernauth

The prime minister, who is also an MD, and the minister of Health, should take a closer look at the cardiac centre and the havoc, which is being caused there by some political nominees. The cardiac centre of Pamplemousses is a jewel and two different humanitarian organisations are planning to send children from African and Indian Ocean countries to be operated in that centre in a near future. These operations will mean revenue for this centre. But that centre is not yet ready for paediatric heart surgery. The necessary personnel was being trained free of charge by a team headed by professor Kalangos from Switzerland. This eminent cardiologist, whose organisation has also been donating equipment to the cardiac centre, stopped his collaboration with this centre after false and malicious accusations circulated at the centre through anonymous letters.

He shunned Mauritius for more than a year and ended the free training his team was giving to the personnel of the centre. Some of the children he had planned to operate had to be sent overseas at great cost. It is after much effort made by the minister of Health with the help of some Mauritians living in Switzerland that professor Kalangos has accepted to resume his collaboration with Mauritius. He will soon be here and is expected to operate a batch of children who have been waiting for long. But alas, bickering, backbiting and circulation of anonymous letters have not ceased at the centre and they are a hindrance to its future development. To add insult to injury, the chairman of the trust fund seems not concerned at all with the development of that centre, the replacement of its obsolete equipment and the training of its personnel in a country where one people out of two is dying of cardiovascular disease.

He has lately indulged in petty quarrels with most of the cardiologists and nurses of the centre and the ministry has had to intervene twice to quash decisions he had taken concerning the personnel of the centre. He should have resigned or been asked to step down after these two mishaps. But he is still in office and he started another scandal last week. These actions by the chairman have created a very unhealthy atmosphere at the cardiac centre. An atmosphere which is not conducive to its development and the commitment of its personnel. Health specialists have time and again raised the alarm concerning this situation which might end up in the closure of that centre. If the Mauritian cardiologists and cardiac surgeons of that centre decide to quit because of the hindrance and stress they are facing, the centre will have to close. Cardiologists from India, the cheapest available, are asking for a salary of Rs 100 000 paid in foreign currency and Indian cardiac surgeons will not accept any salary under 200 000 Mauritian rupees. Our cardiac surgeons are being paid Rs 50 000. Many cardiologists have already left public hospitals to work in private clinics. These specialists are also in great demand abroad.It is high time that the cardiac centre be cleaned once for all to prevent brain drain. Because any mishap cropping up during the next visit of professor Kalangos might mean disaster for that centre.