Attorney General Anil Nandlall has directed the Guyana Police Force to settle all debts with the Lyken/Newburg funeral parlour but maintains that the company’s operations remain a public health hazard.
In a letter to the parlour’s lawyer Khemraj Ramjattan, the AG contends that while the requests made of the Lyken/ Newburg Funeral parlour are not currently codified in Guyana’s archaic Public Health Ordinance the company has not been a victim of discrimination. Instead, according to the AG, they are the only operators in the sector who have failed to comply with the requirements presented by the Central Board of Health.
Nandlall maintains that the 99-year-old business has not been “identified in isolation for any specific or discriminatory treatment” since the same requirements have been present-ed to every operator since 2011.
The funeral home began legal proceedings against the state after the contract between it and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was terminated.
Co-director Dr Dawn Stewart-Lyken who said that she learnt of the termination of the contract via media reports has expressed the opinion that she is being victimised by a particular member of the Central Board of Health.
When announcing the termination, the Police Corporate Communications Unit Director, Mark Ramotar claimed that the funeral home was not in compliance with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). Stewart has provided proof that this is not the case.
She has also challenged the claim by the Central Board of Health that a bad odour was present in the preparation area. The businesswoman has claimed that the only time there is an odour is when the decomposed bodies are being put into the refrigerator or taken out. However, when this newspaper was taken on a tour of the preparation area in the morgue, it was noted that there was indeed a strong odour emanating from this area without the refrigerator being opened.
The Central Board of Health had also insisted that a second refrigerator be constructed to avoid cross-contamination between the fresh dead and those decomposed bodies recovered by the GPF but Stewart says this is not a legal requirement.
“We’re unaware of the laws that govern…[what] the Ministry of Health is saying to us that the reason why we are not compliant or we don’t have a licence… is because we don’t have a second refrigerator to hold decomposed bodies,” said the co-director. She reiterated that there is no cross-contamination and as such no need for an additional refrigerator adding that they are being “persecuted” for standards that there is no law for.
In responding to this position Nandlall maintained that the odour flagged in 2019 was a public health hazard adding that Lyken/Newburg has never disputed its toxicity but rather asked for time to correct the issue.
He stressed to Ramjattan that the issue was raised not only with the funeral parlour but also with the Director General of the then Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon, Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence, Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally, the Minister of Public Security, the Commissioner of Police, the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown.
“By their conduct [they have accepted] that their operations and premises are serious public health hazards,” he wrote, reminding that in January 2021 one of the proprietors, Gordon Lyken had indicated to the Board that the facility to house decomposing bodies was 90% complete and requested a three-month extension on a previously extended deadline.
“The decision arrived at by the Central Board of Health was neither capricious nor whimsical. This drastic but necessary decision was taken in a global public health pandemic and in the public’s best interest,” he maintained.
