Govt will not bring home Guyanese studying in China

Coronavirus…

With some 40 Guyanese students currently studying in China – where more than 300 people have died from the coronavirus outbreak – the Guyana Government said it will not attempt to bring anyone home, noting that it may be safer for them to stay at their respective hostels.

This was communicated to the parents of these students on Saturday at a meeting with Government officials at the Training Division of the Department of Public Service at the Ministry of the Presidency.
“Government is not putting plans in place to bring students home,” Public Service Minister Tabitha Sarabo-Halley is quoted as saying at a press release on Sunday.
“After listening and hearing what’s happening in China and examining our own situation in Guyana we decided it’s best for them to remain there because the more movement, the more the possibility of exposure to the virus. Staying put in the hostel significantly reduces the likelihood of contracting the virus,” she explained.
According to the records of the Department of Public Service, there are 50 Guyanese students undergoing studies in China; ten of whom are currently not in China.
Minister Sarabo-Halley told the parents that the decision to let the students remain in China was not made unilaterally.
She explained that the decision was made following a meeting on Thursday among Ministers of State, Public Health, Foreign Affairs, and Citizenship as well as senior technical officers.
“The decision took into consideration advice received from the Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, local and regional medical practitioners,” Sarabo-Halley posited.
“They have everything; they know what to do if the virus is contracted and so that is the best place for them at the current stage because once they start moving we don’t know what will happen.”
She further explained that “for them to move from one province to the other to get out is a 14-day wait. Fourteen-day quarantine period and that could happen for a while before they actually get out. So, it’s not that the Government doesn’t care about the students. We have taken that into consideration.”

Parents’ concerns
During the engagement, parents and other representatives of the students raised a number of concerns.
According to the Ministry’s press release, the guardians were concerned about the lack of adequate supplies for the students who would be restricted to their place of residence.
Moreover, they expressed worry over the sparsity of information.
“To these, Minister Sarabo-Halley committed that herself and other members of the team of Government representatives will endeavour to collect and disseminate accurate information on the situation as it pertains to each student currently in China on Government of Guyana/Government of China scholarships,” the statement noted.
Meanwhile, Fariz Khan, an obstetrician who has been working in the local health sector for the last decade, also attempted to allay the concerns of the parents.
Khan, whose sister is currently furthering her studies in China, reinforced to the parents why it is better for the students to remain in that country during this period of the outbreak.
“As far as I’m concern we should give a hand to China. They are doing a very good response to this thing… quarantining people, putting hospitals in place etc.
“My take is what I want for my sister is for her to remain exactly where she is. I think she is getting the best health care right now…. I don’t want her to move because the moment she moves … any travelling, bus, aeroplane… I’m talking just about to get out of the country… every country she moves to she’s is going to get quarantine. If she comes home to Guyana, her home she’s going to get quarantined. That is not politics. It is medicine,” he posited.

Measures
The Foreign Affairs Ministry has already announced that persons travelling to Guyana from China will most likely be denied entry in light of the coronavirus being declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud, who was also at the meeting with the parents, explained that those who died after being infected with the virus were already of poor health.
“The virus is not an aggressive one like Ebola … most of the persons who succumbed who get very sick and die are older persons and what they have also noted all of them are above 55-years-old and most of these people who also have poor morbidity, or underlying conditions.
“They are diabetics; they have kidney problems; they have lung problems; they have noted that a lot, about 33 per cent of them already had smokers’ complications in their lung. So, most of these people already had a high risk and most of them even if they get the regular flu virus some of them will sometimes succumb too,” Dr Persaud explained.
Latest reports reveal that at least 304 people in China have died following the outbreak of the coronavirus, which has already spread to 22 other countries including the United States.
As such, Dr Persaud noted that Guyana has already put surveillance systems at its various ports of entry. He noted that suspected victims will be quarantined in keeping with internationally recognised standards.
“What we have at the two airports, Moleson Creek, and the various ports is, if we identify someone that is coughing, we put a mask on that person to prevent them from dropping the droplets around the environment.
“Once we get the person into isolation, so far, we have two sites that we have developed: one at Georgetown Hospital and we have a small area at Diamond. Last night we were also told both Ogle and Timehri will have a separate room … to conduct our examinations.”