As a boy growing up in Guyana, it was clear that a visit to the local doctor was a major event. Doctors rightly commanded great respect. We were washed, scrubbed cleaned, brushed up and dressed in our Sunday best. The nearest doctor was over ten miles away and the main road was full of deep potholes. By the time you arrived at the Surgery, you were well shaken, stirred and probably sea sick. The nearest Hospital was 25 miles away.

Guyana is divided into three counties. Essequibo, Demerara (Where the Sugar comes from) and Berbice. We lived in Berbice and there is one long road that links the coastal villages from one end (New Amsterdam) to the other (Skeldon). The district doctor did his round visit once a week. He starts his trip from New Amsterdam (Named by the first inhabitants-Dutch) and reached as far as Skeldon.

If you needed to see the doctor at home, you put a white flag in a milk bottle and leave it by the road side on the day he did his rounds. The doctor’s car will stop and then he administered treatment as necessary in that household. If you need a visit from the vet you leave out a green flag in a milk bottle.

You had to pay for treatment and there was no preventative medicine. I did not have childhood immunisation and one of my friends and school mate died from Tetanus at the age of sixteen, just after we took our O levels. I am one of eight siblings. My mother during her pregnancies never say a doctor and had a midwife visit once in early pregnancy and later towards the end. And the deliveries were the “Hot water and towels” affair.

This may sound like a hard life but it was quite the opposite. Guyana as I grew up was a wonderful place to live and I thoroughly enjoyed my formative years. I would not change any of it.

One thing I did notice, however, was that in Guyana I never say anyone with Chicken Pox but I developed it as a full time GP in Chelmsford. It was scary. My temperature was so high, I became delirious. I was seeing people in my house and nearly phoned the police. My wife stopped me in time. I expect a lot of Guyanese in Britain and USA/Canada suffered Chicken Pox as adults.

Dr.Phil Hariram