115 diagnosed with dengue this year
… but CMO says there’s no ‘outbreak’ One hundred and fifteen persons have been diagnosed with dengue for the year but there is no outbreak of the infection, according to Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Shamdeo Persaud who said the Ministry of Health has been monitoring the situation closely. Dr Persaud told Stabroek News that [...]
Air traffic controllers on the job
–Jagdeo rescinds dismissals, to meet them shortly Almost a week off the job, striking air traffic controllers returned to work yesterday after a promise by President Bharrat Jagdeo to meet them in “a week’s time”. High on the workers’ list of demands is a 10% retroactive payment. However, President Jagdeo said he made no promise [...]
Firing point not yet reached -PM
– hopes air traffic controllers return Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said yesterday that he did not believe government had reached the point of firing the striking aircraft traffic controllers, though Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn maintained that they would be sacked for not turning up. While not ruling out firing the workers for [...]
Benn issues ultimatum
Air traffic controllers defiant Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn yesterday issued an ultimatum to striking air traffic controllers to immediately return to their jobs or be considered voluntarily separated but at press time last night the workers were refusing to budge until outstanding wage and other issues are addressed. The minister at a [...]
Kidney transplant a success
Doctors yesterday successfully performed a second kidney transplant here and up to press time the 47-year-old recipient and his daughter who donated the kidney were recovering in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC). Winston George, a former army major, who received a kidney from his daughter Melissa, was the second [...]
Ex-army officer to receive daughter’s kidney
A 47-year-old ex-army officer is the next kidney transplant patient and according to a source close to his family he will receive a kidney from his 25-year-old daughter. Winston George, a former major in the Guyana Defence Force, was diagnosed with renal failure in 2000 and has been on dialysis since then after being treated [...]
Stolen water pump allegation costs man an arm and a leg
– family calls for assailants arrest The family of a 29-year-old man, who was badly beaten after being accused of stealing a hammer and a water pump, is questioning why the police have not arrested the couple reportedly responsible for brutalising him last Monday evening. Lying on a mattress at his Albouystown home with his [...]
Convict flees while cleaning outside Camp St jail
Another prisoner has escaped; this time from in front of the Camp Street prison, where he was at work, sprucing up its environs. Prison Director Dale Erskine yesterday confirmed that the prisoner, whose name he gave as Suresh Narinesingh, escaped on Tuesday morning. The prisoner was serving a three-year sentence for robbery under arms and [...]
Trini woman also fingered in Republic Bank fraud
A Trinidadian may be involved in the multi-million-dollar fraud committed at Republic Bank (Guyana) Ltd and more staffers are expected to be sent home as the investigation continues. According to reports yesterday, a woman from Trinidad and Tobago is also involved in the fraud but it is not clear in what capacity. For the second [...]
No court appearances yet in months-old NIS pensions fraud
Months after a fraud of almost $900,000 was discovered in the Pensions Department of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) no one has been placed before the court although all the evidence reportedly points to the involvement of four former employees. Police said they are continuing investigations but sources are questioning why the lawmen are not [...]
Letter T caretaker shot dead
Three gun and cutlass-wielding men yesterday morning shot and killed a Mahaicony coconut estate caretaker and assaulted his wife in front of their one-year-old son before escaping with a shotgun, cash and jewellery. It was just after 11 am yesterday when 31-year-old Muneshwar Paragass was interrupted from putting his son to sleep reportedly by gunmen [...]
Liquor company to launch ‘sensible’ drinking campaign
-Youth Minister reveals One of the two major companies producing alcohol here will soon be introducing a “very active programme” to promote “sensible drinking,” according to Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony. While the minister did not want to go into details and he did not wish to “steal the company’s thunder” [...]
NIS fraudsters forged life certificates for dead pensioners– probe ongoing
The details of four dead pensioners were used to perpetrate fraud amounting to almost $900,000 in the Pensions Department of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) which has seen some 18 employees being sent home, a senior source in the institution said yesterday. Stabroek News has been reliably informed that the fraud started early last year [...]
Olive Gopaul: Mixing beauty with business
Once a household name in Guyana, Olive Gopaul is rarely seen on television today, except for when she announces the winning numbers for the Guyana Lottery Company. Olive’s became a public face back in 2001 when she was crowned Miss Guyana World. On her return to Guyana after competing in the international pageant, her ‘career’ [...]
14 NIS staffers sent home over pension fraud
Money collected for the dead Fourteen employees of the pension department of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Brickdam office were yesterday sent home as investigations intensify into the discovery of a fraud in that department. Stabroek News understands that the fourteen were sent packing yesterday morning leaving the department with a virtual skeletal staff which [...]