“I really like to help people, regardless of who they are…I would do everything possible to ensure that people have a life that they can enjoy.I am always conscious that there is someone in need of quality medical care…a sick child in need of medicines.”
By Jeanna Pearson
Shamdeo Persaud, the country’s Chief Medical Officer, has never been the type of person to choose the
Shamdeo Persaud
easy route. Instead, he learnt at an early age to embrace challenges and stand firm—even if it means standing alone…and that one of his biggest challenges is to constantly remind himself that it is the person that matters not the disease or the epidemic it sometimes drags along.
Appointed as a Tuberculosis (TB) Control Officer at the West Demerara Regional Hospital in 1994, a Medical Officer of Health in the Department of TB in 1996, and an Epidemiologist for the elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis in 2002, Dr. Persaud’s greatest accomplishment is not amongst his impressive qualifications, but his dedication toward the health sector over a span of 22 years.
Dr. Persaud has been the brain behind many health programmes and strategies in Guyana, especially in the department of TB in which he was the Epidemiologist to introduce the Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course (DOTS) programme.
His passionate attentiveness to research and medicine was sparked as young boy in high school, where he reveled in the sciences. During the interview for this article, Dr. Persaud stated that education was always a must for his family, so he grew striving academically for more. Decades later, he is still committing himself to the texts, pushing himself to learn more and in turn imparting more.
EVERYONE HAD TO GO TO SCHOOL
Shamdeo Persaud was born in October of 1965, a few months before Guyana attained independence. He lived with his four brothers and six sisters on a farm in Garden of Eden on the East Bank of Demerara. There he attended Supply Primary School and the Covent Garden Secondary.
Graduating from University of Guyana Medical School in 1992.
“My parents were from the farming community…it was hard but they made a conscious decision to ensure that we got some education. Everyone had to go to school, regardless of what was going on,” he recalled.
However, pursuing an education did not take away from their daily contributions toward helping on the farm, which consisted of sugar cane, cash crops and chickens. “There was always work to do on the farm…both of my parents used to work on it until my father passed away. I was nine years old.”
His father’s death placed on a strain on the family to provide for themselves. Yet, Persaud fondly recalled that his mother was the “best accountant in the world,” and so they were never short of food and other necessities.
“I remember she had a stall in Bourda Market and she would get up early to carry whatever was produced to sell. That is what kept us going. The elder ones looked after the younger ones and she took care of us all. Our family was very close so we looked out for each other, we played with each other and we helped each other,” he noted.
“My mother knew how to take care of things. I remember she would buy bus contracts for us so that our transportation was covered to travel to school every day…all to ensure that we continued our education. And whatever we grew on the farm we would eat… there was a lot of fruits and vegetables.”
After graduating from high school, Persaud studied his ‘A’ Levels at St. Rose’s High and had high hopes of becoming a Marine Biologist. However, that sort of study was not available in Guyana, so he decided to apply for a scholarship.
“And I received it. The PSM offered me an Eastern European scholarship, but at that same time the University of Guyana was opening its Medical School and I chose to stay,” he said.
Tending to a patient in the earlier years.
“BAREFOOT DOCTORS”
Persaud was a part of the first batch of medical students at the university. “It was quite an experience, because there was a lot of uncertainty and skepticism about what type of doctors we would become, since it was the first time they were going to train doctors locally,” he reflected.
Additionally, there were many challenges which included shortage of materials, an unfinished building, and limited access to laboratories.
However, anxiety rose among them when people started to give them all sort of titles, the most common being “barefoot doctors”. However, Persaud stated that he and his batchmates remained focused and determined to prove everyone wrong.
“We were determined to be the best in the game. There were many Cuban-trained doctors and other Guyanese practitioners returning home to practice, but we were not intimidated. We were able to hold our own,” he said.
‘I WAS READY’
Awarded by PAHO/WHO for his outstanding performance in the health sector.
Persaud graduated from the UG medical school in 1992 and went on to achieve his Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of the West Indies. Fresh out of internship from the medical school, Persaud got a tenure at the Georgetown Public Hospital as a Government Medical Officer. It was during that time he developed a passion for medical research.
“My interest was stimulated, so when the Cholera outbreak occurred in 1992 I was ready,” he said.
He recalled that the government had made a request for medical doctors to work in the outbreak as volunteers, since at that time the Region did not have any medical officer working there and the demand was great. He said he had heard that people were dying and getting sick, and he wanted to help so he signed up for the volunteer mission.
Persaud was the only volunteer that turned up. The epidemic was a huge blow to the region since scores of persons died.
“Right there in that region I was introduced to public health. We had a lot of deaths…a lot of sick people…everything was tense, but we had to ensure that we got the situation under control. As a young doctor it was scary for me, but we always encouraged among each other. We worked hard to save as many lives we could and when patients died we had special procedures for their burial.
“Sometimes late at night we would hear someone got sick and they would be way out in the village and we would have to take a boat and travel to them, because there wasn’t enough time to bring the patient to us. If they did, by the time they reached the person would have already died…the best thing was to go quickly and start them on the fluids,” he reminisced.
A CAREER IN PUBLIC HEALTH
It was after the outbreak that Persaud was selected to return to the region as its Regional Health Officer, given the knowledge of the people and the region that he had acquired during the epidemic. This marked the beginning of his career in Public Health.
However, two years later he was called back to the Georgetown Public Hospital “but I didn’t feel comfortable there”. So he approached the Chief Medical Officer at the time, and asked him to be reassigned in an area of public health.
“That was when the years of work in the Tuberculosis department began. They assigned me to the West Demerara Regional Hospital. “I was excited, because it was a fairly neglected area and I wanted to make a change. It was only four of us working on the TB programme….now the TB department has over 70 workers.”
Persaud then went on to develop the DOTS programme and have the TB clinic moved into the Georgetown Public Hospital. “We modernized it, set up a registry and treatment guidelines. It took a lot of time and a lot of dedication. But we made it and now TB is under control,” he said.
He also worked with CDA in producing the first TB manual, while at the same time he was offered an opportunity to do his Masters at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Upon his return to Guyana, he worked as the National Epidemiologist in the Department on Communicable Diseases. Shortly after, he was appointed as the Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Persaud presently sits as Chairman of the Central Board of Health, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the Institutional Review Board of the Ministry of Public Health, and also functions as the Director for Pesticides and Toxic Chemical Board. He is also a member of the Medical Council, the Pharmacy Council, the Nurses’ Council, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Advisory Board and a Member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Caribbean Public Health Agency in Trinidad and Tobago.
He is also a member of the CAAM-HP Board and the President of the Guyana Chest Society. However, he still finds time to give back to young practicing doctors by lecturing at the School of Medicine, University of Guyana.
“It important to impart whatever you learn into someone else, because it helps to fashion what the future would look like,” he said.
“I really like to help people, regardless of who they are…I would do everything possible to ensure that people have a life that they can enjoy,” he added, noting that this motivated him to go the extra mile to boost the health sector. “I am always conscious that there is someone in need of quality medical care…a sick child in need of medicines.”
He stressed that if a doctor fails to listen to his/her patients then they miss the most important part of medicine. “A major challenge is human resources, but not so much the shortage of the human resources, but more so their attitudes.”
“The sector will always need infrastructure and more money, but if they would invest in the human resources it would take health in Guyana to another level,” he opined, adding that he was pleased with the efforts taken by the Ministry to expand the primary health care system.
He said the option of bringing health services closer to people has always been something he would love to see happen in the public health sector.
FAMILY
Meanwhile, Persaud admitted that his career had taken a toll on his family earlier in his life. He said there were times he would return home from a long day at work and his son would chide him for working too much and having too little time. “It did affect me….but I love my children and they are all supportive of my career and my life. But now I’m making them my priority…my family and then work.”
Persaud has three children: Nikhel, Anesia and Zyler. His daughter is currently away in Georgia pursuing medicine while his eldest son is studying piloting in Guyana. The youngest, he said, is still in primary school.
He said it is the simple moments in life that he treasures the most about his family and he remembers all of those moments vividly. “My children loved whenever we went on vacations. They always wanted to go where the water is, and in the water is where we had all the fun. I remember sitting with my family around the television and just enjoying each other while we watch a movie. We would just pick a movie and watch. But it was the time we spent together that matters. The movies I can’t remember, but the moments with my children I do.”
Currently Persaud is working on achieving his PhD in Epidemiology at the St George’s University in Grenada. He was recently awarded by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) for his outstanding performance in the health sector. He also dedicates his free time to running in the mornings. “My biggest dream would be to run in a marathon, but for now I practice every day. So maybe one day.”