Dear Editor,
The matter of Suresh Lallbeharry, NI# B-17085085 of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, whose Invalidity Benefit was stopped and then reinstated, is disheartening and pernicious in equal manner and highlights a deficiency in knowledge of NIS Regulations and which may be contributing to the shambolic operations of the Scheme.
I respectfully direct the Determining Authority, the General Manager, to Regulation 17 (1) of the National Insurance and Social Security (Determination of Claims and Questions) Regulations, Chapter 36:01, which states:
“Where on review a decision is reversed so as to make Benefit payable or to increase the rate of Benefit, the decision shall have effect as from the date of the application for a review”.
The above instructs that, Lallbeharry must be paid from the date his appeal was received in NIS and not the date, August 28, 2014, when he was again deemed an invalid.
The conduct of the Medical Board is also disconcerting and suggests, it was doing the bidding of NIS.
The Medical Board met on May 20, 2022 and gave a unanimous decision/opinion in respect of a medical opinion made in October 2011 and which is approximately 10 years and 7 months after the opinion was made in the first instance.
The Medical Board’s conduct in this matter must be questioned in light of Part A, Rules for Medical Certification, Regulation 4 of the National Insurance and Social Security (Medical Certification) Regulations Chapter 36:01;
“Every Certificate must have been given on a date not more than one day later than the date of examination upon which it is based, and no further certificate based on the same examination shall be furnished, other than a Certificate to replace an original Certificate which has been lost or mislaid, but in that case, the form shall be clearly marked “duplicate”.
The Certificate issued by the Medical Board and dated May 20, 2022, is therefore, null and void and has no legal effect as it contravenes the just quoted regulation.
The conduct of NIS in this matter goes against everything social security is intended to represent. It must now be asked if NIS has lost its way and where is that social security umbrella which is needed to shelter and protect the poor and vulnerable worker.
Contentious decisions such as the one under focus, are making social security become irrelevant as it seems to favour the rich and famous over the indigent and vulnerable worker and his/her defendants.
This is a case within the jurisdiction of the Appeal Tribunal, but the GM has the power to authorize payment from the date the appeal was received in NIS.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
