Blairmont Estate sugar workers, who were on strike over the treatment of a fellow worker injured on the job, have resumed working after a meeting with GuySuCo officials yesterday.
The protest was sparked after sugar worker Davekumar Jainauth fell while working in the fields and sustained lower back injuries. Sugar workers accused GuySuCo of failing to provide adequate medical treatment for him and they called on the corporation to pay Jainauth’s medical bills after he was forced to seek private care.
The Alliance for Change (AFC) highlighted Jainauth’s case on Wednesday and the party criticized the corporation for mistreating its workers. Jainauth’s case, the party said, is a clear example of a public health system failing the working people who most need it.
GuySuCo reported yesterday that the workers returned to work “on their own accord” and in an earlier statement the corporation had said that NIS regulations would have to guide the process of reimbursement for Jainauth’s private medical bills.
But when Stabroek News contacted the corporation’s Human Resource Director Jairam Petam yesterday, he informed that the Ministry of Health has intervened and will handle the worker’s medical bills. He said too that everything was back to normal.
For four days the disgruntled workers, numbering around 300, had protested Jainauth’s treatment by GuySuCo and they raised the issue with the AFC on Tuesday. The party pledged support for Jainauth’s family, saying that while it stands in support of the sugar workers on strike, the support of sugar workers is critical to increasing production and returning the industry to viability.
The AFC said Jainauth’s family was in no position to pay his medical bills owing to its circumstances. “The AFC believes that although billions have been spent on physical infrastructure, the health care system still continues to grossly under-deliver for the Guyanese people,” the party said in its statement. “We in the AFC believe that it costs the country more when sugar workers down tools than it would cost to care for Mr Jainauth and thus it is economically foolish for the PPP government and GuySuCo to grandstand on the issue,” it added.
But GuySuCo issued a statement on Wednesday night saying it was disappointed “at yet another attempt by external elements who are deliberately distorting issues to incite industrial unrest.”
The corporation said the strike action at Blairmont has affected production at the estate and it insisted that adequate medical care was offered to Jainauth following the accident. “GuySuCo wishes to make it clear that from the inception when the worker fell ill, he was taken by ambulance to its primary health care centre in Blairmont and then referred to the New Amsterdam hospital for treatment,” it said.
The corporation added that an x-ray was conducted and Jainauth’s family was instructed to return the following Monday (February 14) as there was no sign of serious injury but the patient required rest. Jainauth remained in a state of discomfort and according to GuySuCo, the estate ambulance and medex were requested by his relatives to take him to the Mahaicony Hospital.
He was admitted to the hospital and after being seen by a doctor a similar diagnosis was made and he was advised to rest. However, his relatives were not satisfied with the treatment and Jainauth was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital and while awaiting treatment another request was made for him to be transported to the Medical Arts Centre.
GuySuCo said while Jainauth was at the private facility, he was visited by doctors attached to the corporation who made a similar diagnosis as the other institutions that his condition was stable and required rest.
“A similar observation was also made by the doctor attached to that hospital after which the patient was discharged and advised to return at a later date for follow up treatment,” the statement said.
The statement continued that after he returned home, Jainauth was visited by the doctor attached to the Blairmont Estate on Tuesday and the estate manager Curbette Victorine visited him on Wednesday.
According to the corporation, transportation was provided for Jainauth by an ambulance attached to the estate throughout the period.
Further, the corporation said it was very concerned at remarks attributed to political representatives of the AFC appearing in the media accusing GuySuCo of neglect and mistreatment of the worker. Additionally, GuySuCo said it has received reports of a campaign of misinformation being fed to the colleagues of the worker and that workers were being encouraged to continue their strike action against the corporation.
