-Dr. Cheetanand Mahadeo shares his journey

By Navendra Seoraj

January 30, 2016  Source

BORN and raised in an Upper Corentyne village, Cheetanand Mahadeo faced a fair share of hardship as a youth, but he overcame those challenges to the point where he now holds the celebrated title of lone thoracic surgeon in the country.

Dr. Cheetanand Mahadeo

His road to success was not easy. Like every other young boy from the village, Mahadeo grew up in a small house – on an unnamed back street – at Crabwood Creek. His mother and father,who were both teachers, tried their best to raise Cheetanand and his younger sister. The young Cheetanand enjoyed his youthful days playing sports, attending school and progressing through the ranks.

Starting from the Crabwood Creek Nursery School to the similarly named village primary school, he succeeded in his studies and earned a place at the New Amsterdam Multilateral School, which was considered unrealistic at that time for a variety of socio-economic factors, leading to his parents’ request to have him transferred to the Skeldon Line Path Secondary School, Corriverton, Berbice.
“High school was a most interesting experience for me. I was streamed into the science class and groomed to be the best I could be in Home Economics, Industrial Science, Business Science, Agriculture and Pure sciences, along with the usual curriculum of Mathematics, English A and B

“Athletics was also a major part of the curriculum and we were fortunate to have certified physical education teachers,” said Dr. Mahadeo.
In the first years of his school life, Mahadeo dreamt of becoming a pilot, but unfortunately, due to his parents’ financial status at that time, he was forced to discard that dream.He went on to complete high school, but was hit by another hurdle – he completed school at age 15, one year short of the legal age to acquire a meaningful job.But instead of sitting about and wasting time, Mahadeo took to the streets and became a mason, a job which he did for over a year until proceeding to another job as a junior book-keeper at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
“Guysuco was a very important turning point. I went to work as a junior book-keeper and learned work ethics and the true nature of competition of the “dog-eat-dog” mentality and the notorious “news carrying” nature of the corporation, along with strange, unmentionable practices of workers appeasing the managers so they may gain personal favours.

“Sometimes, I felt that merit was not the nature of advancement in the world. However, working for a little over a year with Guysuco prepared me for the world outside of Corriverton/Crabwood Creek. ”When he was financially ready for the University of Guyana, he was not yet 18 years old, which was one of the requirements to read for his degree in Pharmacy.This posed further delays, notwithstanding letters pleading the case that he will be 18 in the academic year, and not the calendar year.Finally, in September, 1995, he commenced studies at the university in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

IT BEGINS
Progressing, Mahadeo then commenced medical training in September 1999 at the University of Guyana School of Medicine.“This was a new level of tertiary grooming and was particularly challenging for me. I was by then the owner of a pharmacy and working my way through medical school inclusive of entire weekends of work in order to get enough financial support.”Medical school was challenging, as is anywhere in the world, and in a developing country even more so.
The resources at the University of Guyana were extremely limited, both in technology and basic resources and a lot of learning was in abstract form.
“I can say this without any doubt, as I have travelled and attended two different medical schools later at the Masters and post-doctoral fellowship level.”
After completing Medical School, he was placed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to train, and at that time the University of Guyana was at loggerheads with some of the doctors at the hospital; as such, they were occasionally chased off the wards and insulted by a few surgeons.

LIFE AT GPHC
Fighting his battles, Mahadeo began the post-grad phase, and this proved to be another learning curve as it was in medicine; he had to continue to learn and evolve.In 2005, he became a medical intern and did his rotations in “terrible” social conditions at the GPHC, where, along with his colleagues, he was housed in a very unsafe building with half the windows, no sheets for the beds, mattresses with holes and toilets that won’t flush.“GPHC had multiple challenges and it is challenging to work in an environment where we had so little resources, but were expected to deliver first-world health care.”

But there were memorable and satisfying moments, such as when he delivered a baby in the back of a mini-bus in the driveway of the maternity ward. It was a task which was scary, because of the fact that it was during the night and there was no assistance, except the panicking bus driver. Thankfully, both mother and child lived.
Following the internship, he was placed in the orthopaedic surgery department for nine months and then transferred to the emergency department for a few months.
By 2006, residency was available and the opportunity to become a surgeon was available. He enrolled in the Post-Graduate Diploma programme in General Surgery in 2007. Following this training, which was validated by the Canadian Association of General Surgeons, Mahadeo was sent to Linden to work as a surgeon.

“Linden was a special place for me. I approached my new job with some degree of reservation because [it] was a new environment and it was low on resources.
“However, it quickly became my favourite place of work. The nurses were awesome, the administration listened to what I had to say, the Regional Democratic Council was supportive and the thing I am most proud of, is the move to the new hospital in 2010.“I was the Medical Director acting and was a major part of the move. This may sound trivial to most, but moving a hospital from one locale to another is not easy. Nevertheless, I was part of a very good team and I am still proud of the dedication and effort demonstrated by them.”

GENERAL AND THORACIC SURGERY
That then led to his current portfolio, that is, lone thoracic surgeon in the country.
This goal was achieved in a “circuitous manner.” General-surgery training was initially the Post- Graduate Diploma from the University of Guyana. This was followed by a two-year training in General Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.Subsequently, there was a Clinical Fellowship in Thoracic Surgery at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. This dual qualification then made him a “General and Thoracic Surgeon,” licensing him to practise in both the private and public sectors.

The practice of Thoracic Surgery is extremely wide and because he is also a general surgeon, even wider. The complexity of this surgery and transformative ability for patient care/longevity is the greatest catch.This he said, makes him a surgeon with diverse skills in cancer care, heart, lung, chest wall, esophagus, stomach, transplant surgery, reflux disease, hiatal hernias and some vascular therapies, just to name a few.

Being the lone thoracic surgeon in the country, he emphasised that Guyana has a long way to go to achieve the best norms of health care. The GPHC and in a few private hospitals are beginning to cultivate such ideals and practise them.
Currently, his intentions are to create a thoracic service for Guyana and advance the treatment of thoracic illnesses with a keen emphasis on cancer care.“We have an increased ability to screen, monitor and detect cancers and it is only fair that the treatment keeps up with this detection.”Dr. Mahadeo has visiting and operating privileges at all major private hospitals in Georgetown and Berbice.
However, his main private practice area is at Woodlands Hospital, where they have the equipment needed to treat most of the conditions, but is available for consultation at all hospitals.