Lack of proper medical facilities in the Rupununi sub region has led to the deaths of Guyanese women in neighbouring Brazil after they travelled there for medical attention, according to A Partner-ship for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parlia-ment Sydney Allicock.
He was speaking at yesterday’s continuation of the budget debate in the National Assembly following last week Monday’s presentation of the budget of $208.8 billion.
“This budget is a miserable failure of the Government to understand the realities of the masses, to give expression to their needs and aspirations, to address the issues that a budget [for Guyana should address],” he said.
Describing the Rupununi region as a likely location for the biblical Garden of Eden, Allicock said that the lack of vision, will and skill and prudent management have combined to render the Rupununi one of the most backward places in the entire Caribbean.
“Mr. Speaker, no proper consultation with residents or their representatives was carried out in the so called development plans,” he said. “The people of the Rupununi are very intelligent and know what is needed in their communities. They do not need someone sitting in their carpeted air-conditioned office in Georgetown to decide on their needs,” he said, adding that it is time to start a constructive consultation process that is longer than two hours “as is the norm by Government.”
The MP challenged Government to do more in terms of education for the students of the region who he said have little opportunity upon leaving high school for anything more than a shop attendant in Lethem. He said that they should be given opportunities for higher learning without their having to travel to the city. Allicock then called for Government to bring to the Rupununi a technical training centre for young people to prepare them for the world of work. He said that there are few second chances offered to those who might not have done so well at their exams.
“Young people with five or more subjects are working as shop attendants because there is no other opportunity for them. Those who migrate to Brazil find themselves in somebody’s kitchen or on a farm. This Mr. Speaker is no way to overcome poverty,” he said.
Turning to health, he said that there is a “so called state-of-the-art hospital” in Lethem that is “woefully inadequate” to serve the needs of the region. “This facility is a glorified health centre at best,” he said, adding that there are always incidents of road accidents along the lengthy stretches of roads in the region, necessitating the need for adequate health services.
Arguing that the budget failed to take into consideration the need for a proper health facility in Lethem, Allicock said that presently the hospital is not capable of diagnosing a simple case of typhoid.
“There is always the potential for that sickness to raise its ugly head,” he said. “We need specialist doctors…a general surgeon, not periodically but full time,” he said. “We have cases in the Rupununi where pregnant mothers are required to travel to the Lethem hospital on motorcycle over rough terrain. He said that one woman took ill at Parishara. He said that there was no health worker there and the residents contacted a health worker some 11 miles away. The health worker got there on motorcycle at 8:30 am and was told to take the woman to another point by motorcycle where a vehicle would have picked her up and transported her to Lethem. “She arrived at Lethem at 2 pm and had to wait six hours. She delivered [sometime later] but bled profusely. She was rushed to Boa Vista at midnight and by 4 am [next day] she was no more,” he said.
“Mr. Speaker it should be noted that time and time again we have had deaths in Brazil and great difficulties to return the bodies to Guyana…it is very costly. If we have a state-of-the-art hospital there then these cases should be looked after right in Guyana…this is a continuous worry to our people,” he said.
Allicock said that the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was established to serve the interests of Amerindian people and not to suppress them. “Today after some 40 years of the passing of the honourable Stephen Campbell who fought for the rights of the indigenous people we are still here not settling these issues. We need to be respected. It is time that we are seen as part of this country…we are treated as though we are things in a corner,” he said. “Why can’t our lands be settled? It is like you offered us a cup of coffee with milk and sugar and telling me I could only use the coffee and you will keep the milk and sugar,” he said.
