By Kiana Wilburg
Better pay and a more progressive work environment abroad are among the chief reasons why many experienced medical professionals migrate. Fortunately, such grounds will never be tempting enough for one of Guyana’s most renowned heart specialists, Dr. Mahendra Carpen.
With more than 10,000 procedures and surgeries completed, Dr. Carpen is determined to channel all of his energies into improving Guyana’s health care system, even if this entails sharing himself across many local institutions.
At 49 years of age, Dr. Carpen is considered a distinguished Interventional Cardiologist and Cardiac Electrophysiologist. He heads the Medical Services and Cardiology Department at the Georgetown Public Hospital. He is also the Consultant Cardiologist to the Caribbean Heart Institute and the Managing Director of Cardiology Services Inc. at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Further, Dr. Carpen is the Co-Director of the Guyana Partnership to Advance Cardiac Care and the Chairman of the Cardiac Oversight Committee.
Regionally, he shares his expertise with clients in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Jamaica.
While it is reasonable for one to wonder if the weighty responsibilities of so many positions would leave him worn out and fatigued, the reality is quite the opposite. Shuttling from one job to the next keeps his mind as sharp as a surgical blade and his feet, nimble.
This much was observed when Guyana Standard visited Dr. Carpen at the Georgetown Public Hospital to learn more about his career. The slim, quick-footed doctor with arguably flawless skin, led the way to his office as he warmly acknowledged familiar patients and staffers on the way.
Upon taking his seat, Dr. Carpen took a brief moment to order breakfast. It was not a serving of baked salmon with steamed broccoli and carrots prepared by a sous chef from the Marriott Hotel, but rather, two tasty egg balls and a hot cup of coffee from a nearby snackette. These simple pleasures are what he holds dear about being a Guyanese.
Dr. Carpen admitted that authentic Guyanese cuisine was also one of the things that often made him homesick after leaving these shores in 2003 to hone his genius skills. Such a move was not backed by a multi-million-dollar trust fund or the savings of well-to-do parents. His brilliance which shone early on at the University of Guyana’s School of Medicine in 1997 saw him being rewarded with a full scholarship. He was bestowed with the Prime Minister’s Award for being the best graduate, the Vice Chancellor’s Award for the best graduate in the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Rolph Richards Prize for Internal Medicine. The fully paid scholarship that followed for this Berbician allowed him to travel to Jamaica where he began his sojourn to becoming one of the best in the field of cardiology.
Dr. Carpen told Guyana Standard, “I went to Jamaica in pursuit of advanced training in Internal Medicine. I had to spend 6 months at Kingston Public Hospital and then I earned my way into the University Hospital of the West Indies at Mona. It’s the flagship campus for medical training at UWI.
“I was very lucky to be there at the time when Professor Charles Denbow and Doctor Orin Barrow were in very senior leadership positions at the University Hospital. Dr. Charles Denbow and Dr. Orin Barrow were both Guyanese and perhaps that assisted me somewhat in my process of being hired and trained. I will be eternally grateful to them.”
It must not be lost upon readers that in the field of medicine, the late Professor Denbow and Dr. Barrow are considered medical royalty.
The former, who passed in February 2009, was a distinguished clinical cardiologist of international renown who focused on cardiovascular diseases that are important in the Caribbean. As for the late Dr. Barrow, he is considered the grandfather of Gastroenterology medicine in the West Indies.
Their royal tutelage, along with the immeasurable talents of another Guyanese legend, the late Dr. Ramsundar Doobay, are what inspired Dr. Carpen to take up cardiology. Determined to follow in the footsteps of these great men, and no doubt craft a path of his own, he spent four years at UWI at Mona soaking up every drop of knowledge available.
Dr. Carpen’s academic climb saw him moving to the Bahamas. There, he formed part of the UWI Campus and served as a Clinical Tutor for Internal Medicine for two years. His next stop was the University of Toronto where he completed residency training in Adult Cardiology and Fellowship training in Interventional Cardiology.
Dr. Carpen subsequently advanced to Tufts University in Boston, USA to complete a second Fellowship in Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology.
Upon completing his overseas training missions, Dr. Carpen made an unflinching decision in 2012 to return to his homeland where he remains immersed in the development of cardiac services in Guyana and the Caribbean.
Since returning and taking up a lead post at GPHC, he has already accomplished much to be proud of. At the top of this list is the pivotal role he played in setting up the first Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Georgetown Public Hospital. He took lead on staff recruitment, training and establishing treatment protocols for common cardiac presentations.
Dr. Carpen has also performed thousands of invasive cardiac procedures including coronary angiograms, angioplasties, stent implantations, right heart catheterizations, pacemaker implantations, lead extractions, intracardiac defibrillator implantations, cardiac resynchronization therapy and radiofrequency catheter ablations for cardiac arrhythmias. He was the first to do many of these procedures in Guyana.
Though the foregoing is but a mere fraction of the stellar achievements already under his belt, Dr. Carpen is determined to do even more outstanding work. He currently has his sights set on establishing a landmark training programme for cardiology specialists here. “If we achieve that then we are going to be the first in CARICOM to do a cardiology training programme. Obviously, we will have to have very strong collaboration to do that but those are the forward-thinking plans and visions that we need to have to build this country,” the medical professional shared.
PRIVATE VS. PUBLIC PURSUITS
Given his expertise and regional repute, Dr. Capren could easily focus on building a multi-million-dollar private practice. So, what’s holding him back? The answer is simple. It’s not all about the money with him. To do so would be going against the very fibre of his being.
The situation in Guyana is as such that many persons cannot afford private health care bills which can easily climb into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for heart cases.
Some persons have no choice but to depend on the public health care system for life-changing surgeries and procedures. To do his part in giving back to society, especially to those who need it most, Dr. Carpen has made a solemn vow to dedicate most of his professional life to serving the public sector.
“The majority of people who need my services can’t really afford it in private. But that does not mean that they shouldn’t have access to it,” shared Dr. Carpen.
It is also this refined sense of duty that keeps him bound to ensuring the public cardiac care systems are equivalent and often times surpassing the standard that is available in the private sector. When it comes to heart care services at Georgetown Public Hospital, he unashamedly boasted that the treatment is on par or even surpasses the private sector. “And you can take that to the bank,” he added.
While he was the only cardiologist in the public sector for a number of years, Dr. Carpen was pleased to note that he has been joined by two other highly trained Interventional Cardiologists who are part of his team, Dr. Terrence Haynes and Dr. Michael Chin. He also has a number of non-invasive cardiologists on his team, all of whom provide excellent service to patients. He said these persons, along with many of his specialist colleagues in the public sector, share the same unwavering passion for service to country.
In fact, Dr. Carpen said his team is looking to orient, train, and tighten up the skills at Georgetown Hospital and then supply various regions with the relevant cardiac care specialists. “We’ve been able to do that for New Amsterdam Hospital in recent times, and we’re hoping to expand to the auto high population center hospitals.”
“GLORIOUS PRIVILEGE”
Even with all of his professional responsibilities, Dr. Carpen said being a husband, and father of two beautiful girls remains the most “glorious privilege” of his life. He gushingly shared that the most enjoyable part of his morning entails taking his daughters to school. “…That for me is so valuable, notwithstanding the minibuses trying to run you off the road…It’s a good way to start the day and I don’t take it for granted.”
Such precious moments he said provide all the fuel he needs to make his rounds from 8am to 9am at his clinic with a smile following which he invests most of his time at GPHC either administratively or doing procedures, and seeing patients.
Given his many roles and responsibilities, he said his day has no strict cut-off time. “The day ends when it ends,” he said. And somewhere in between, he pushes in a workout routine, as it is one of the vital pillars of a healthy lifestyle.
With his vision for cardiac services in Guyana, and astute accomplishments, Dr. Carpen is clearly leaving a legacy that would most likely receive a nod of approval from the late Dr. Denbow, Dr. Barrow, and Dr. Doobay, the men who inspired it all.
