Dear Editor,
It is with great pain and sadness once again we have seen in recent breaking news, that a watchman (wrongfully dubbed security guard) working for a popular construction company, was brutalized on the East Coast of Demerara. The attack was such an inhumane act by bandits who wanted to rob his employer’s home and bond. It is always painful to me as a Guyanese citizen and human being, one who relates to the working class since I myself was a security guard in the past locally and internationally. I understand and empathize with those who function in the industry because it is an important industry and an opportunity for one to earn an honest living to care for one’s self and family.
It pains my heart that this man was so badly beaten and it pains my heart even more that this man was dumped by his employer, at the Mahaicony Hospital and left there to suffer. At the hospital the nurses and doctors, whoever were on duty and in the capacity to help did nothing. Who were these persons that took the Hippocratic Oath? How could they leave that poor man for so many hours without attention? There he lay abandoned, wounded, bleeding and groaning.
I will not be surprised if our Hon. Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony hears of this. He will definitely do some serious enquiries and unleash serious discipline on those who neglected their duties. I have seen this happen in more than one non-governmental agency where the nurses and sometimes even doctors fail to realize that their job is to serve the people of this country. They are public servants, had that man died they could have been sued for negligence or even charged for criminal negligence.
I recall several years back on the East Bank of Demerara a man working at a Health Centre was murdered, an old retired man trying to do a little something to keep himself occupied and to earn a few dollars. Murdered ladies and gentlemen and readers!
I am writing this letter to draw the attention of the Government of Guyana, the Administrator of Security Services in Guyana which is the Commissioner of Police through Deputy Commissioner Mr. Clifton Hicken.
It is imperative that security companies have a minimum of one million dollars insurance to cover their security personnel who are killed or injured on the job. This is to ensure they have something by which they can live or their families can be cushioned, their NIS should also be paid and properly maintained.
Furthermore, what about the Watch-men? Those companies that choose to have Watchmen should also provide such insurance in order to protect them and their families in the event of injury or death. I know that RK’s Guyana Security Services, Professional Guard Services and GEB Security Services were some of the first services to institute insurance protection for our guards injured on the job. I cannot say about the other services, but what I can say is that we at RK’s Guyana Security Services have extended our insurance beyond death or injury on the job. This includes an open accidental death, injury or dismemberment insurance, whereby for a few dollars more they could have those riders, to protect their workers. So even if they have an accident in the car, if they fall from a house, if something collapses on them, they are protected 24hs daily and not merely on the job. Their families can have a decent living or beneficial compensation.
Things will happen in life, I wish to make it clear to the general reading public that by far, incidences with security guards and watchmen are fewer than accidents that happen on the roads with minibuses, gold mining companies in the interior and otherwise. In many industries that operate, unfortunately people get injured and could get killed. All employers should be guided by law, through the government of Guyana to have not only compulsory national insurance but also an accidental 24-hour insurance protection or protection on the job.
Sincerely,
Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan Snr.
