One year later: Special Constable injured in ECD accident needs hip replacement

By LaWanda McAllister

One year after a 44-year-old Special Constable attached to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was involved in an accident on the Cove and John Public Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD), she is in urgent need of a hip replacement.
Aquaba Assanah of Haslington, ECD received injuries about her body, and was hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after the motorcycle she was riding collided with a car.
A report from the GPF stated that Assanah was proceeding east along the northern side of the Cove and John Public Road on motorcycle CK 5568 when the driver of motor car PRR 4561 – Bryon Mahendra, a fisherman of Hope, Lowland Section, ECD – stopped to allow a vehicle proceeding in the opposite direction to turn south into the access road.
In the process of doing so, Assanah, who was proceeding in an easterly direction, overtook several vehicles along the left side of the said road and collided with the front left side of the said motor car.
As a result of the collision, Assanah received injuries about her body. She was picked up by public-spirited citizens and taken to the GPHC, where she was admitted a patient and was subsequently discharged.
On Saturday, in an interview with Guyana Times, the woman disclosed that, since the accident, she is unable to walk on her own, and uses a crutch to help her move around. She said the accident has not only cost her her livelihood, but also her job.

Assanah unscored that since she lost her job, she can hardly provide for herself, because, prior to the accident, she had no one to rely on, not even her children.
“It is really hard… I does got to go to clinic… my clinic coming up, and I don’t even have a cent to go. I went to the hospital on the 10th of this month, and when I went, the doctor asked me if I come with anybody. I tell him no, and I ask him what happen, don’t be afraid because I am not afraid of anything.
“He told me that I will need a hip replacement and it will cost $400,000, and I don’t have that money. He told me if I don’t do it, I wouldn’t be able to walk… It is hard”.
The woman has said that since she was given this tragic news from the doctor, she has been trying all around to accumulate some of the funds, but all of her efforts have proved futile.
“I have four children, but they are big people and I never really had anyone. I am really, really in need of help. I have to go in hospital, and I will need stuff. I have to go to clinic next month, and I don’t have no money, and when I am moving, I have to go with a taxi because I can’t walk… This is so embarrassing. I never wanted to put it up on social media, but I have to do it because I have no other alternative”, she said.
When asked if she is getting any assistance from the Police Force, the woman said she was told that when she accumulates some of the money, she would get some assistance.
Anyone who is interested in helping Aquaba Assanah can contact her on telephone number 681-2420.