—says hospital gave no reason for terminating her contract
Former Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) paediatric surgeon Dr Marisa Seepersaud has spoken publicly about what she described as horrible treatment, saying she had been “slandered, devalued and discredited” despite choosing to return to Guyana to develop surgical services for children.
After that Facebook post prompted questions about why she had been fired, Seepersaud responded in a second post yesterday, saying her contract had been terminated without an explanation or a hearing.
“I was asked to stay and serve in this operating room, and several others in various parts of the world. I said no… because those rooms were not in GUYANA,” she wrote in the initial post.
“Had I known how horribly I would have been treated at home..slandered, devalued and discredited, I would have still made the same choice to return.”
Seepersaud said her commitment to Guyanese children remained, notwithstanding her experience.
“Lesser minds and overinflated egos DO NOT trump the needs of Guyanese children,” she wrote.
She cited her role in pioneering and building paediatric surgery, paediatric cardiac surgery, critical care, day surgery, minimally invasive surgery for children and child abuse systems, alongside teaching and mentoring healthcare workers.
“Guyanese children deserve timely, appropriate and competent surgical care,” she said, adding: “There is much more to come!”
In yesterday’s follow-up, Seepersaud said the earlier post had generated considerable interest and numerous messages and calls asking why she had been dismissed from GPHC.
“I actually don’t have an answer for that. I have not been given a reason. I was in the middle of my contract. There was no hearing. I have not received severance,” she wrote. She said she had received payment for 65 days of leave accumulated over the years.
Her account follows controversy over the termination of her contract and that of Dr Yala Gomez.
Describing the circumstances in which she received the termination letter, she said she had returned home during the afternoon to prepare to be the inaugural guest speaker for a Caribbean surgical association.
Her presentation concerned strategies for improving surgical training and drew on her work with an international think tank and as an ambassador and content reviewer for SURGhub, which she described as the United Nations’ repository of global surgical training materials.
“With less than an hour to go before my talk, I was summoned by HR (Human Resources) and given a letter of termination. No explanation or reason. It was a shock to say the least,” she wrote.
Seepersaud said she had to put aside her emotions and rush home to address the international audience. During the introduction, she listened to her accomplishments being recounted while struggling to contain her feelings.
She said the presentation was well received, with questions and comments extending the scheduled one-hour session beyond 90 minutes. Mentors spoke of their pride in her and former trainees expressed gratitude for her contribution to their development.
“It felt good. Then I remembered that after my on-call ended at 8am tomorrow, I would have no job to go to. It was surreal…the juxtaposition was wild,” she wrote.
She said she then attempted to inform her surgical colleagues through their WhatsApp group, thanking them and asking that they support her team, but discovered she had already been removed. She instead sent messages to individual heads of department before informing her family.
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