Dear Editor,
The recent, harrowing ordeal of the young Amerindian man from the Amerindian Village of Kariako, Region One, lays bare a devastating truth about the state of equity and emergency medical care in our nation. Bitten by one of the deadliest snakes in Guyana, he could not benefit from the services of the GDF helicopter since it is always on standby to ferry President Irfaan Ali on another of his public relations stunts. Rather this young Amerindian man was left in the village until the villagers pooled resources, days after, to take him privately, on a five-hour boat journey in waters that also have rapids (bouncing up and down), while in critical condition; a delay that may very well prove fatal.
This is not merely a misfortune; it is an abuse of the system by President Ali, a national failure of the highest order from the health care system and open discrimination against the Amerindian peoples by the PPP Government. Mind you this is the Region where the Minister of Amerindian Affairs Ms. Sarah Brown was born. If you cannot care for your home area, then the Amerindian people of Rupununi cannot expect better. This incident reveals a tale of two Guyanas. In one Guyana, life-saving helicopters are available, yet reportedly deployed for luxury travel for the PPP executives. In the other Guyana, our Amerindian brothers and sisters in remote communities are left to suffer and die because the same rapid-response assets are not made available for emergency medical evacuations. From all appearances, under the PPP, the Amerindian people appears to be children of a lesser God.
That a citizen can be left in such a perilous state for days, relying on dilapidated and slow-moving transportation when modern alternatives exist just 45 minutes away by air, is a profound indictment of this government’s priorities. It represents a shocking disregard for the lives of those in the hinterland regions and underscores a brutal inequality in the distribution of our nation’s resources. I therefore stand in full agreement with the calls made by the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Team and their Leader and incoming Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, for the immediate establishment of a reliable, state-funded emergency medivac service for our far-flung communities. It is a basic function of a responsible government to protect all its citizens, regardless of their geographic location.
This is not a partisan issue; it is a matter of life and death and a fundamental question of justice. The government’s failure to provide this basic safeguard, while allowing critical assets to be used for less life-threatening purposes, is unacceptable. I join, Mr. Mohamed, in calling upon the Ministry of Health and the relevant regional officials, including Minister Sarah Brown, to act immediately to rectify this tragic situation. It might be too late for this young man, but his life can be the rallying point for all future youths from the Hinterland to have a chance to live by accessing the timely medical care that every Guyanese citizen justly deserve from an oil economy. The people of Guyana are watching. They will remember which leaders stood for their safety and how the PPP failed them in their most vulnerable hour. The Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony should be fired for not doing his job.