Dear Editor,
I am very much concerned about the trajectory of this country especially in the various sectors. We have a minister of Youth, Sports and Culture who easily becomes emotionally stressed and appears relatively clueless about what is the overarching developmental plan for the country in relation to his ministerial portfolio. His levels of responsibilities are far beyond what he deeds as his flagship project “community ground enhancements” of which a functional Sports Commission can do, among many other things it is mandated to do. A commission which after nine months has not been operational with an appointed Director of Sport. The arbitrary dishing out of ten million dollars of taxpayers monies to select communities without any known procedures will have to be addressed condignly. The massive destruction of vast amount of mangroves, nature’s natural defense of protection to our shorelines. The wanton and unprovoked dismissals of thousands of qualified Guyanese public servants. The rapid increase in crimes, drugs trafficking, murders, illegal and criminal activities, discriminatory distribution of Covid-19 grants. The Gross interference in the local democracy and governance of NDCs, Municipalities, RDCs and Toshaos village elections, and the list is certainly incomplete to say the least.
But Editor, I pen this missive to give some remarks on the most recent comments coming out of the Ministry of Health, with regard to the suspension of the nursing programmes being conducted at the Charles Roza Nursing School in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice). The Ministry said “This school, funded by the taxpayers of Guyana, is intended to train all eligible Guyanese who are desirous of pursuing a career in nursing. Unfortunately, over the years, the school has trained persons mostly from Region 10, while persons from other regions such as 1, 7, 8 and 9 were given nominal placements.” This is most disappointing and a very bizarre statement coming from a government ministry to say the least. Additionally, their attempts to even provide a justifiable reason to closing down the program that is good for Guyana and not just Region Ten is even more worrisome. The Ministry stated that the school is funded by taxpayers of Guyana to train all eligible Guyanese. The students of Linden and Region Ten who applied and got accepted were all eligible Guyanese. Where they live should not be of any significant consequence for such a decision. Many young people in Linden who are desirous of furthering their education upon leaving secondary school opt to either go to LTI, CPCE or the Nursing School, especially those whose parents don’t have the means to send them to the University of Guyana, and those are in the majority. Hence the reason Region Ten having the most qualified teachers as per region in the country and the Nursing School always having a greater influx of students from where it is located.
This is a blatant and very pellucid case of discrimination against the people of Linden and Region Ten by the Ministry of Health, and by extension, the Government of Guyana. The students being trained at this institution are not being trained to serve Region Ten, they are being trained to serve Guyana. If the Region, according to the ministry, has more nurses than they need, then one would have thought that the prudent thing to do, would be to offer incentives to the nurses in Linden to relocate or be seconded to other regions where they are needed while simultaneously, training nurses from those regions rather than arbitrarily suspending the NA and RN programmes at the Nursing School. With this global health crisis due to Covid-19, it is even clearer that Guyana and the world need more nurses and healthcare providers. Editor, is it not a given that the institution will likely have more interested individuals from the community in which it is located? One is now emboldened to ask, if the Ministry of Education, and by extension the government, will be taking a similar approach to CPCE Linden Branch as well? Will there also be a similar response to the Berbice Campus of UG staffers and the applicants who are mostly Berbicians? Will the Berbicians be penalised for being the second region having more University graduates because they are fortunate to have a university campus in their “backyard”? What other foolishness will come next from this administration? I, on behalf of the people of Region Ten, call on the Minister of Health, to do the sensible thing, the right thing and reopen the courses. Let our young people be given the opportunity to pursue their dreams of becoming health care professionals, health providers to serve their country.
Sincerely,
Jermaine Figueira
Member of Parliament
