Dharmic Sabha stepping up its anti-abuse campaign
By Oluatoyin Alleyne
Twenty-eight-year-old Ramesh Nandkishore and his 30-year-old brother, Taijpaul found their daily recreation in hours of drinking rum and playing cards at their mother’s Foulis, East Coast Demerara home.
On May 7 last they were doing just that when tragedy struck after one brother did not want to give the other $60 he was said to have won in a card game. An argument ensued and at the end of it, Ramesh was allegedly killed by his sibling who stabbed him with a broken bottle. Their mother, who only has two children, effectively lost both of them in one blow since as one lay dead the other was taken away in handcuffs by the police and is now awaiting trial for his brother’s killing.
There could not be a more tragic end to a rum-drinking spree than this, but the reality in Guyana is that the story is not unique. While the many hours of rum-drinking may not end in death it is a fact that many Guyanese men and women waste away their lives and ruin their health drinking alcohol with relatives and friends.
The issue of alcohol abuse has been a serious one in Guyana for a long time particularly in the sugar belt and the historic paucity of recreational activities there. And while the Ministry of Health has signalled that it has recognised the problem, some of the undertakings given by Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, including treating alcoholism as a disease at the various hospitals, have not yet materialised.
But head of the Focal Point Drug Demand Reduction Programme at the Ministry of Health, Sheranne Issacs, recently told Stabroek News that a support group for substance abuse, which includes alcohol, is expected to be set up at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) by the end of June through the ministry’s mental health programme. And it was only the week before last the ministry officially launched its anti-drug sensitization programme which is set to air a radio and television series on substance abuse, particularly alcoholism.