Dear Honourable Prime Minister,

We have been in an unprecedented time for nearly 2 years and on a number of occasions, you have made an appeal, righty so, for Mauritians at large, locals and diaspora, to come together and fight this Covid-19 war. Last Saturday, while you had a quick snapshot interview on the carpark of Bo Vallon Mall, you again made another appeal and said you are receptive to anyone who has valid proposals/solutions to get out of this Covid-crisis for the better of Mauritius.

In this respect, Honourable Prime Minister, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to Dr Shameem Jaumdally in case you might not have come across this talented and patriotic Mauritian. I have never heard of nor met Dr Jaumdally until beginning of July when he was on Radio Plus. It was the first time since the beginning of the Covid Crisis, that I heard someone talking about the reality of the virus in a very clear, concise, knowledgeable, and experienced way; and more so in our Kreol language which is understood by everyone in Mauritius. I immediately tried to get in touch with him and made a quick search via various tech platforms and eventually got connected to Dr Jaumdally. He is a trained medical virologist and epidemiologist with over a decade experience fighting multiple epidemics in Africa. He has first-hand experience doing research in a world-renowned academic set-up based in Cape Town and the COVID-19 pandemic has equipped him with, I believe, an understanding few other Mauritians possess. His publication record and professional experience are testament to his ability to quickly adapt to new areas of research as highlighted by his multiple involvements during the COVID-19 pandemic. When you factor in, his understanding of the Mauritian population, their ways of living or general health profile, and combine this to his training and experience, he ticks all the boxes to provide valuable support dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic in Mauritius.

Over the last 5 months, Dr Jaumdally has been on the Mauritian media almost every week and everything he has said in respect to the proliferation and timing of the Delta variant, to the impact on the younger population, to the burn-out of health care practitioners and even including the stress on health care facilities and pressure on the supply of oxygen, seem to have occurred unfortunately. He has consistently tried to make a series of proposals, including using the best Vaccines as booster shots for the elderly/vulnerable and more so those who took the Chinese Vax initially.

One of the reasons Dr Jaumdally’s predictions seem to be right, besides the fact of his line of work, is he has experienced, in addition to a researcher and also a front-liner, 3 waves of Covid, out of which the last wave in May to August was from the Delta Variant, bearing in mind that South Africa was one of the few countries globally that experienced the Delta Variant at a very early stage.

Last Saturday while you made an appeal to those who want to assist, Dr Jaumdally was on another radio earlier in the morning, saying he would gladly assist his country of birth and the authorities. I really hope our ‘fils du sol’ will be given an opportunity as it is only together, we can win this C-19 war and come out stronger.

Yours sincerely

Kevin Teeroovengadum