The mission of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is to “establish and maintain a system of social security through which enough income is secured to take the place of earnings when such are interrupted by sickness or accident.” But this statement by itself is false because a grave social injustice is being committed on the working-class elderly who have become sick and indigent in Guyana. The NIS pensioners in Guyana are placed in a position where they cannot claim for an illness that befalls them after they retire and it has been this way since the inception of the scheme.
While in theory, medical coverage is universal by way of the public hospital system, the working-class NIS pensioners who cannot pay for private medical care, have to surrender themselves to an “F” Grade public medical system. But the worst of it all is that if a pensioner has a newly diagnosed medical condition after they have retired, they are not eligible for any support from the NIS to help with the medical bills.
But what is of grave concern to me is why the trade unions have not acted on this fact over the years? If the public hospital system does not have the drugs, then those pensioners with post-retirement diagnosed illnesses can find themselves depleting their saving to pay for medical supplies. How patently unfair. The workers in their youth paid their NIS contributions with the clear intention that an adequate social net would be there for them when they retire. But in Guyana, this is not the case.
It is unfortunate the NIS for decades under-served the workers with regards to this issue of post-retirement diagnosed illnesses. By failing to do this, the NIS has been nothing but patently irresponsible and reckless. For many senior citizens, this situation has imported a grave uncertainty into their lives.
How is it possible for President Granger and his Cabinet to secure world-class pensionable care internationally for all sorts of medical conditions after 65 years of age, but the ordinary workers have to settle for one of the local death zones in the public hospital system, that in many cases do not even have aspirins? Where is the principle that all our citizens should have timely access to medical care regardless of social status and area of residence? The reality in Guyana is that if you dare retire in a remote area such as one of the sugar villages in Berbice and you are poor, your chance of being left unattended medically is multiple time worse than if you were living in Georgetown. This act by itself is discriminatory. If you are living in the hinterland, your chances of living are even worse.
Granger said a lot in his 2015 Manifesto about this issue but it is unfortunate that he could not have influenced some policies to deliver on even a percentage of what he promised the people with respect to this anti-working class organisation – the NIS. What is more disturbing is that under his leadership since 2015, he has failed to deliver on the promised “study to replace the NIS with a National Social Security Scheme to include healthcare support and employment insurance”.
Furthermore, under President Granger’s tenure, the NIS has not published its 2015 and 2016 Annual Report along with its latest Actuarial Report. These actions alone expose that the Chairman, the Board and the Management of NIS has migrated to a state of non-transparency. The law subjects the NIS to a five-year actuarial review but yet there is not a word from the Chairman on the 2017 review. Was it done? If not are they planning to do one in 2018? Are they going to continue to operate the NIS like a proverbial cake shop? Plus the workers, who continue to bankroll the NIS have not seen an action plan on whether the recommendations from the 2012 actuarial review were implemented in full or in part. Where is the accountability from the NIS?
While the objective of any social security system is to become financially viable, it serves an even more primary role, to provide a social net to the retirees. The most important social support you can provide to our senior citizens is adequate medical support especially for injuries and illnesses that developed when they are past retirement. It is my conviction that the NIS should be a halfway house between what currently exists and the Cabinet’s fat cat international medical plan. But under Granger, we must not expect anything different other than animal farm mentality when it come to the working class.
