Four years after the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) secured a donation of US$20,000 (around $3.9M) for an anti-cancer caesium unit and had it delivered to Guyana, the equipment is moth-balled somewhere at the Georgetown Hospital and chances are that some components may have been pilfered.

There must understandably be some very upset and disillusioned persons within the CIOG and the International Islamic Charitable Organisation. Guyanese women continue to die from cervical cancer because they have limited access to treatment facilities and cannot afford exorbitant overseas care, yet a piece of equipment that can help many of them lies unused in the hospital compound. In addition to the CIOG unit, another purchased with state funds has met the same fate.

This state of affairs is a sad indictment of the present administration and President Jagdeo should take a personal interest in this matter considering that two health ministers under his presidency have direct responsibility.

It is extremely difficult to fathom how life-saving equipment which the government itself recognised that it needed for its anti-cancer programme could simply be consigned to storage and worse, might not even be used.

Last week, the medical adviser to the CIOG, Dr M.Y. Bacchus wrote a letter to Health Minister Dr Ramsammy accusing him of misrepresenting the status of the CIOG caesium unit during a meeting with CIOG representatives, who were anxious to find out what would become of it. Dr Bacchus in his letter said that Dr Ramsammy had assured the CIOG team that both units were ready to be used. Dr Bacchus said that he later discovered that at an earlier meeting with two other doctors, Dr Ramsammy and the others had agreed that the caesium units were not a viable proposition and could not be used.

In a public response, Dr Ramsammy noted that during 2000 - he became Health Minister in 2001 - the Ministry of Health had decided that a cancer-treatment centre would be established to provide two levels of therapy using caesium and cobalt. Three years later, the building to house the units has finally been completed. In the meanwhile, not unexpectedly, new technology has become available and four options are under consideration by the Health Ministry. Only one - the original plan - envisages the use of the caesium units. The three others feature the new iridium technology and Dr Ramsammy says he is awaiting feedback from two doctors entrusted with devising a proposal for the cancer centre. As of now, the original plan to use caesium still stands, the Health Minister said.

The government and the Ministry of Health have no excuse. Once the Ministry of Health - then under the stewardship of Minister Henry Jeffrey - agreed to accept the donation of the caesium unit plans should have been drafted immediately for the radiation-proof structure necessary to house the equipment. This was not done. If it was too costly or complicated for the government to accomplish, then a big mistake was made. It is inexcusable to accept a donation of this kind without taking the necessary steps to install the counterpart requirements. Perhaps the minister was mistaken in accepting the donation of this unit given the imminent technological improvements. Nevertheless, he was duty bound to continue with its use. Minister Jeffrey should account for what he did between 1999 and 2001 to activate the unit and why it lay barren over this period. Similarly, Minister Ramsammy must explain why as minister between 2001 and 2003 he failed to take the requisite steps to have the units put into use. How can it take four years to begin using a piece of cancer-fighting equipment that the ministry agreed to accept? It is nothing short of scandalous.

It exposes a clear inability by the Ministry of Health to take decisive action and execute straightforward tasks. It must be said that this is a problem that crops up in all ministries and other areas of government endeavour.

Potential donors keeping abreast of this fiasco are likely to delete Guyana from the list of needy countries to which donations are made. More specifically, the CIOG which might have been willing in the past to go all out for donations to the state medical system will obviously look elsewhere. Perhaps the opportunity to get a kidney dialysis machine or similarly important equipment has been lost to Guyana.

President Jagdeo must demand an explanation from both of his ministers on what went wrong and he should make a statement on it. His credibility, too, is on the line.

Second, a quick decision should be made on the caesium units. If the final view is that they cannot be used then the ministry has much explaining to do and the CIOG will have to say what it requires. If the units can be used, no time should be lost in installing them.

Third, since this is Guyana and nothing of value can sit anywhere for four years without being looted, let the minister open up the units to the CIOG and medical equipment professionals for scrutiny so that all could be convinced that they are intact and still usable.