Systems are in place to assist indigenous people who would have been flown to the city for medical attention and require some financial assistance to return to their homes after recovery or to repatriate a corpse in the event of death, Minister of Indigen-ous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock says.
As long as the cases are processed through the Welfare Division of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, up to $30,000 can be provided as a grant, he told Stabroek News. In certain circumstances, he said, the ministry would seek further assistance if more funds are needed.
Allicock was asked about the assistance available to impoverished indigenous peoples in light of the death of Aubrey Augustus Thomas of Black Water Village, Region One (Barima/Waini), whose family was forced to scamper for assistance after he died at the Georgetown Public Hospital in December. The relatives did not have the funding to take Thomas’ body back to the Region One community.
