Indigenous Peoples Affairs Ministry needs to help families

Dear Editor,
The Mabaruma sub-regional hospital (at Barima-Waini) is desperately in need of medical supplies to treat patients bitten by scorpions and snakes, since it is a hinterland hospital.
On Saturday, August 5, 2017, four-year-old Keishon Campbell of the Mabaruma township was bitten by a scorpion, which carries poison. The child’s parents quickly rushed him to the Mabaruma hospital, but, unfortunately, the hospital had no remedy for persons bitten by poisonous scorpions or snakes. The hospital tried to administer “saline” to the child, but his condition worsened and he was air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he died on the same day.
Can the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) say why hinterland hospitals are not supplied with the drugs to treat patients bitten by poisonous scorpions and snakes? The MoPH is responsible for the child’s death, and would be responsible for the deaths of hinterland patients bitten by poisonous scorpions and snakes.
Will Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Sydney Allicock, and his Junior Minister, Valerie Garredo-Lowe, assist the child’s parents to return to Mabaruma with the child’s remains, so he can have a decent burial?
In fact, the only assistance given by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs (MoIPA) to the close relatives of poor hinterland patients when they die in Georgetown is a mere ,000. The question is: will an innocent four-year-old Amerindian child from the Mabaruma township be given a “poor or criminal burial” in Georgetown by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs (MoIPA), instead of assisting to take the child’s body back to Mabaruma for a decent burial? I am currently monitoring the situation.

Yours sincerely,
Peter Persaud