Patient dies at Georgetown hospital after left unattended for hours

Stabroek News – May 4, 2008

Pandemonium broke out at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) just before dark yesterday when a patient who had been deemed an emergency case and rushed there from the Leonora Cottage Hospital earlier in the day passed away, after she allegedly did not receive medical attention from the staff on duty.

Dead is 28-year-old Basmattie Balkarran, a mother of three children, of Ruby Backdam, Parika, East Bank Essequibo. Relatives and many others at the hospital loudly voiced their disapproval with the service at the institution and claimed that the woman had been diagnosed at Leonora hospital as being in a critical condition and in need of a higher level of treatment than it could provide.

Balkarran’s sisters and brothers wailed loudly at the hospital. They said their sister had been rushed to Georgetown and arrived at the GPH at 10 am, but had not been attended to until they started complaining and pleading with the nurses to take her into the emergency room some time after 4 pm. The woman died around 6 last evening.  

British lends more support to ‘Stamp it Out’ with IT system

Stabroek News – May 4, 2008

British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler said his country remains supportive of the Guyana government in its bid to “implement a comprehensive policy framework to tackle crime and security in Guyana once and for all.”

He underscored this support at the handing over of an online communication system to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. The communication system is designed to help build capacity in the ‘Stamp it Out’ campaign to stop violence against women.

This system falls under a three-phase programme, a press release from the British High Commission stated. The first was the installation of online communication within the ministry’s main office; and the second being installed currently caters for the inclusion of subsidiary offices around Georgetown. The third phase will be to provide online links to the ministry’s offices in the other administrative regions.  

How much will we allow?

Guyana Chronicle – May 4, 2008
by Rev. Kwame Gilbert

I MUST applaud the very bold and decisive step taken by the Minister of Home Affairs in blacklisting two entertainers, whose performance/ lyrics are considered not to be in keeping with the moral ethos of our country.

I had begun to question, in recent times, the very sanity of some of these so called entertainers. The filth that is spewed out, into the airwaves, in the name of music and entertainment is simply unbelievable. What is worse is that there seems to be an insatiable appetite for this tripe in our society. Our people are so caught up in this sexually perverting, lewd genre of “music” that it has spawned a generation of lawless, reckless, shameless people. Not only are the lyrics repulsive, but the music videos are absolutely appalling. We see young women gyrating, exposing their private parts to the camera, in a shameless, despicable manner.

Regrettably, in this process of social evolution, this planet has over time metamorphosed into an almost unrecognizable state, morally and spiritually speaking. With these various forms of transmutation, we have seen the emergence of a culture of sexual liberation.