Setting up a fund for managing the COVID-19 disease outbreak in Guyana

Dear Editor,
I wish to use this media as a means of appealing for a public fund to be established to finance the provision of materials and other support deemed necessary in the fight against the spread of the dreaded coronavirus COVID-19, here in Guyana.
We have been told that so far eight (8) persons have been confirmed to have been infected with the disease. However, it is very likely that there are more cases that have not been detected as yet, and there is no programme in place to conduct mass-testing for the disease.
I know that our society has a high percentage of poor and vulnerable persons who just cannot afford to access the preventative measures recommended by the local and international health authorities. We would all have seen what a sudden spike in demand for sanitising and protective products would have done to their supply and prices. Thankfully, a few of our local manufacturers have stepped in to make some of these disinfectants, and to even provide them free of cost.
It is likely that very soon Guyana will have to follow the lead of other countries affected by this disease and implement more stringent measures. Should there be a countrywide lockdown, we have to understand the likely impact on the poorest in our society. How will they get the basics to survive when they cannot even leave their abodes to earn an income or ask someone better off to help them?
We the citizenry must come up with workable systems to help our fellow brothers and sisters in this time of need. I doubt that we could depend on the Government to do much for us. We would have seen that even in developed countries with stable Governments, some of the challenges they are facing. Here in Guyana, a worsening political crisis is threatening the very functionality of institutions and has created a terrible aura of fear and distrust for the very systems we would need to depend upon.
We know that our society has a small but affluent group of business entities and persons who have the means to assist the less fortunate among us. Among those who are better positioned to help, are such entities and persons who only recently would have given generously to the financing of elections campaigns for the various political parties. It may not matter what your motivations were back then, but we do know your help is needed more now, as there is at this stage a real health crisis in Guyana, the real extent of which we may not know due to the secrecy that surrounds everything that is related.
In numerous other countries, societies have benefited from the kind support of the affluent. Here in Guyana, you who have been so generous up to recent times, we call upon you to follow the examples of Jack Ma, Bill Gates and others. Just dig a little deeper into your pockets and prepare to assist people who will really need your help.
I am only asking of you that you give in equal measure, what you would have given the political parties, to help establish such a health crisis fund. You may also want to be part of the management structure and process to ensure that your support reaches those most in need. I have every reason to believe that our country will be truly grateful to you.

Yours sincerely,
Khemraj Tulsie