Vybz Kartel looking at SVG for medical treatment

LAST WEEK, Jamaican entertainer Adidja Azim “Vybz Kartel” Palmer created a buzz on social media among the Vincentian community when he did two things.

Firstly, the popular dancehall performer wished Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves a happy birthday; and secondly, he said he was looking at three countries to pursue medical care for his Graves’ Disease, among them being St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder that can cause hyperthyroidism- which is an overactive thyroid.

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of the neck next to the voice box. Thyroid hormones control the way the body uses energy, so it affects almost every organ in the body, even the way the heart beats.

“With Graves’ disease, your immune system attacks your thyroid gland, causing it to make more thyroid hormones than your body needs. As a result, many of your body’s functions speed up,” the NIDDK explains on its website.

The comment about coming to SVG for treatment caught many by surprise, because ‘Kartel’ is said to have a net worth of approximately US$1 million and could afford medical treatment in countries with a better tested health care system than SVG.

Negative comments flooded social media, some of them by persons who had just days before professed their love for the Jamaican entertainer.

Comments began attacking Kartel for wishing Gonsalves a happy birthday, and then mocking the singer for mentioning SVG as a place where he is thinking about seeking treatment for Graves’ Disease.

A comment from a Facebook user, Zanne Browne-Miller reads, “Vybz Kartel say he looking to come to St.Vincent and the Grenadines for medical attention ello!! Let’s laugh together .

“All jokes aside, is probably the specialists we does have down here from time to time, he coming to?! Because not us trying to fly out and he trying to fly in. Then again, I’ve never really had a bad experience at the hospital and some of the places Vincentians be flying to for medical attention, the people who live in those countries be running from these same hospitals we’re running into.”

Another Facebook user by the name of Ernesto Cambridge commented, “Am i missing something? Since when vincy high up on the scale in terms of medical services…?”

But some persons were not so pessimistic about Kartel’s comment. A Facebook user by the name of Tiz Latham wrote, “after experiencing UK healthcare, Vincy ain’t bad anuh. We just need ppl with better attitude, upgraded equipment and better infrastructure tbh…”; while someone going by the name Nafuna Sutherland wrote, “SVG health care system far more better than TNT.”

When contacted on Monday, two medical professionals in SVG did not want to comment on what Kartel said, but one of them did offer that the country has one Endocrinologist.

An endocrinologist is a medical specialist who treats people with conditions that are caused by problems with endocrine glands and hormones, such as diabetes, menopause and thyroid problems.

When one Googles, “What is the best treatment for Graves disease?” one of the first answers that pops up is, “Total thyroid removal (total thyroidectomy) is the best and most definitive way to treat Graves’ disease. Simply put, you cannot have Graves’ disease if you do not have a thyroid gland.”

Graves’ Disease can also be treated with medication.

So, is Kartel coming to SVG for medical treatment so far fetched?

Well truth be told, SVG has been the destination of many people over the years, a lot of them children from neighbouring islands, who have successfully been treated by medical professionals with World Paediatric Project (WPP).

SVG also possesses a group of Cuban and Cuban- trained specialists who have also successfully performed complex surgeries.

One such was done at the Modern Medical and Diagnostic Centre in Georgetown in September, 2019, on a patient who was the victim of a chopping incident that disembowelled him, and he arrived at the hospital with his intestines hanging out. The life of the then 56 year old was saved through the surgery.