National Committee for Haiti Relief prepares to send supplies…
Dharmic Sabha, Banks DIH, latest contributors
Danielle January 20, 2010
The Guyana National Committee for Haiti Relief today received contributions in cash and kind from the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha and Banks DIH Company Limited.
President of the organisation, Reepu Daman Persaud made the presentation to CDC Director, Chabilall Ramsarup while Banks DIH Representative, Carlton Joao handed over his contribution to GAP/ROAR representative on the relief committee, Gem Roberts.
Ramsarup stated that the committee has so far collected $237M and the committee is now preparing to send the load of supplies collected as early as possible through John Fernandes Limited.
The ship provided by BK International requires about $35M in fuel and therefore has to be packed to capacity with containers in order to make the trip feasible.
Ramsarup said the team is also working out the closest distance that the ship would be able to get to Jamaica so as to have it unloaded into speedboats destined for Haiti.
President of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha Reepu Daman Persaud hands over his cheque to CDC Director, Chabilall Ramsarup. January 20, 2010.
Persaud pointed out that after watching the videos of the devastation in Haiti, he came to the conclusion that persons regardless of status or race will suffer.
He said the magnitude of the tragedy will cause lifelong dislocation that no amount of aid could erase.
“No matter what we give, we will not succeed in compensating for the pain and loss. But we should make the sacrifice because charity is a healthy institution to be proud of,” Persaud emphasized.
He added that although the contribution is small it is being given with the utmost sincerity in the hope that Haitians can be rehabilitated.
Chairman of the West Demerara Branch of the Hindu Dharmic Sabha, Jagmohan Persaud stated that the hindu community is doing everything humanly possible to alleviate the plight of Haitians.
He mentioned that the organisation is also praying for the strength, courage and resilience the people need to go on with life.
Banks DIH representative, Carlton Joao presents his contribution to GAP/ROAR representative on the relief committee, Gem Roberts. January 20, 2010.
Persaud added that efforts are afoot to collect more contributions from its members.
In making his presentation, Joao said that it was indeed touching to witness an elderly woman being pulled from the rubble seven days after the earthquake, testimony to the resilience of the people and their efforts to hold on to life.
“We all want to make contributions, it may be a drop in the ocean but the combined effort would go a far way. We are giving a container of water and another with crackers which are supplies that are desperately needed at this time.”
On Tuesday several commercial banks along with the Guyana Police Force made donations totalling more than $15M and previously M&M Snackette, Toolsie Persaud Limited and a local body of churches made donations in excess of $9M.
A telethon held by the committee on the National Communications Network (NCN) has netted pledges and contributions in excess of $18M.
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake tore through the capital of the already impoverished nation of Haiti on January 12, killing thousands and leaving irreparable damage in its wake.
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President Jagdeo holds meeting with his Iranian counterpart
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
According to Iran Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today officially welcomed Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo at the presidential palace in Tehran, the country’s capital, where the two leaders held discussions on several world issues as well as relations between the two countries.
At the meeting, President Jagdeo called for expansion and consolidation of ties between the two countries and said there is great potential to bolster economic and commercial cooperation.
President Ahmadinejad supported this call, noting that the current level of economic, cultural and political cooperation between Guyana and Iran can be bolstered, and expressed his hope to witness the expansion of relations and cooperation in these fields over the coming years.
"The capacities and potentialities existing in the two countries can be utilized to expand mutual cooperation," IRNA quoted him as saying.
President Bharrat Jagdeo and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Iran – January 20, 2010 (Courtesy of Iran Republic News Agency).
This is the final leg of the President’s trip to the Middle East that also saw him visiting Kuwait and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) to generate interest in Guyana as an investment location and to strengthen ties with non-traditional trading partners.
Last year, the President had stressed that the global economic and financial crisis had made it difficult for Guyana to seek foreign direct investment (FDI) from the developed world and Guyana’s traditional allies. As a result, he highlighted the needs to develop new relations with other countries, including those of the Middle East.
The President had made two visits to the region last year that saw him visit Libya, Greece, Cyprus and Jordan.
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GTA hands over prizes for poster competition
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) today handed over the first, second and third place prizes for a poster competition entitled “How can you reduce your carbon footprint?” as was part of the 2009 Tourism Awareness Month activities.
Director of GTA, Indranauth Haralsingh said that the competition was seen as an apt opportunity to promote Guyana’ Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and was also an opportunity for youths to understand and inculcate ways to reduce carbon emissions.
Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Indranauth Haralsingh poses with the winners and sponsors of the Tourism Awareness Month Poster Competition.
The first place prize of a trip to Kaieteur Falls, compliments of Rainforest Tours was awarded to Anandeo Maraj of Parika-Salem Secondary School, while Devika Budraj of the Central Corentyne Secondary copped the second place prize of a trip to Arrowpoint compliments of Roraima Group of Companies.
Third place of one mountain bicycle was awarded to Rachel Boodhoo also of Central Corentyne Secondary School, provided by National Hardware Limited.
The winning posters.
The competition was extended to 104 secondary schools out of which 90 entries were received. The posters were assessed based on content, creativity, spelling, grammar and adherence to the rules of the competition. Tourism Awareness Month was observed under the theme ‘Promoting Quality and Sustainable Tourism in Guyana” in November 2009 for the fifteenth time since its initial launch. The month allows for evaluation of the performance of the industry and its contribution to the country.
Among other activities that were carried out in the month were: training for hospitality workers, map unveiling, birding familiarization tour, overland tours, tourism award ceremony, launching of Rupununi brochure, Rupununi Expo and Christmas tree light up.
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‘We must not look at Aishalton in isolation’
– Minister Ramsaran clears the air on situation at Aishalton Hospital
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
Health services across the country continue to be improved in an incremental way, as Government works to ensure that every community receives basic health care while densely populated areas are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, providing quality health services.
Minister within the Ministry of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran in quoting the age old adage ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, reiterated that improvements in the healthcare system are being done but while a lot has been done to date there is room for much more. The Minister pointed out that in every community, at least basic healthcare is provided at health centres in communities while patients can seek specialized care at hospitals in nearby communities.
Referring to a recent article in one of the daily newspapers, the Minister noted that several issues that were highlighted were misleading and did not truly represent the situation. The Aishalton hospital, the Minister noted is being improved and regularly scheduled visits are done by the Regional Health Officer (RHO) along with other officials from the Region and the Ministry of Health to ensure that the hospital is functioning effectively.
The article noted that health officials do not visit the hospital; however, the Minister noted that for last year Medex Xavier who is the present RHO visited the hospital three times and has already visited this month.
“We must not look at Aishalton in isolation…Aishalton is being strengthened because at the regional level we have more doctors, more capacity and we want them to work better. We will be sending in people with more skills, hopefully those will be able to do more outreach visits. Instead of having just medex and health workers, we will have doctors going which didn’t happen in the past,” the Minister said.
Noting the small amount of resources provided to the RHO, the Minister said that the Officer liaises with the Region and other health teams to visit areas but these are scheduled regularly across Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo).
“Every Region has scheduled meetings when they bring in their persons, the senior persons from the particular area who need to report. We are not saying that everything is honky dory, for example the administration is taking certain measures to better utilize resources.”
The article noted that a pump was not installed at the nurse’s quarters to which the Minister explained that in some cases, the facilities are not all fully equipped immediately.
“If you are not utilizing them (facilities) you would not put your resources there...right now in Lethem, we have houses up to speed; a few months ago you would have had a little this or a little that needed to be done, because you wouldn’t in a resource poor environment have these things all there. If we were to put the pump first then we would need to have someone watch the pump,” Minister Ramsaran explained.
The Health Minister explained that the hospital receives a limited supply of power, and some standby capacity. There was a visit by a team from the Ministry of Local Government mandated to examine the possibility of adding solar panels to the Aishalton Hospital.
“We have to put a doctor there; there are two Cuban doctors now at Lethem, we are going to be putting a Cuban doctor at Aishalton…and this should be done within reasonable time, that is exactly why we have another facility under the enhanced arrangement between President Jagdeo and President Castro for 20 additional family practitioners from Cuba…Cuba has always been sending 30 to 45 doctors and nurses and technicians to Guyana over the past 30 to 40 years, we enhanced that to include 20 specially for certain locations where we had difficulties,” Minister Ramsaran said.
He further explained that the Aishalton hospital and other areas have not had their own doctors since the Medex programme is geared to create capacity to fill hospitals. Through the Alternative Medex Training Pathway, indigenous persons who are not nurses are allowed to enter and train for 42 months to become a medex. Previously a nurse could train for 18 months and gain certification as a Medex but the programme was adapted since there were a high number of persons seeking entry.
Some students are expected to graduate later in the year who will gain placement at areas where doctors cannot be stationed at this time, the Minister explained.
Steps will be taken to rectify the problems at the institution including examining whether there is need to employ a maid to carry on the cleaning duties. Issues relating to food preparation will be examined to see whether food that was being prepared by the private sector is not adequately prepared then arrangements will be made to utilize the hospital facility. However, this has proved inefficient in the past since there were wastages and losses, but this will be the last resort, he said.
“We will enhance the referral system and maintain what has been there; there will be no slippages…in the meantime no services will be withdrawn, we might be able to rotate or send out doctors there more frequently,” Minister Ramsaran said.
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Value added sugar products to be available by September
-Enmore packaging facility under construction
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
Government continues to invest in the sugar industry, to maintain its stability, to prevail, diversify and develop in spite of industrial actions by workers, price cuts and low yields.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, who is performing the duties of Prime Minister, today paid a visit to the construction site of the Enmore Packaging Plant where foundation work is progressing.
Construction of the $2.4B packaging facility commenced in October 2009 and is expected to be completed by September. Most of the pile driving has been completed.
Minister Persaud said that despite an initial delay, he is satisfied with the progress thus far.
The project according to Minister Persaud, will help form part of the approach to cushion the industry’s ability to deal with price cuts.
A section of the Enmore Packaging Facility under construction.
“This investment here by the Government, with support from the European Union, with financing for the pumping measures, is part of that overall plan to ensure that the industry maintains its viability….GuySuco didn’t just wake up one day and say that we needed a packaging facility. This is the result of comprehensive studies,” the Minister said.
He noted that the industry’s ‘Turn around Plan’ will help bring GuySuco to a state of viability.
He said Government has contemplated that it has to deal with inadequacies of management and those lead to fluctuations whereby radical and urgent interventions must be made.
Touching on the issue of the state of the ‘Turn around Plan’,Minister Persaud commended the board and management for their efforts in ensuring that all deliverables were met resulting in the industry being able to cut costs in excess of $2.5B.
Minister Persaud further stressed that this is a significant achievement on the production side although the industry faced some set backs. It is currently five to six percent above the 2008 figure and based on the assurance from the board and management, this year the target of 280,000 tonnes is certainly one that can be achieved.
Packaging
The facility is expected to churn-out about 40,000 tonnes and then later expand to 80,000 tonnes of packaged sugar.
“In the past we have been selling raw sugar and what we will be doing is targeting the market for 40,000 tonnes of sugar that you can have on your table and are packaged properly,” the Agriculture Minister said.
Another aspect of the project will be the restructuring within the factory to enable it to produce high grade sugar for packaging purposes, while larger acreages within the East Coast Demerara area will be brought under cultivation to produce adequate cane supply in order to ensure a brighter future for the sugar industry.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud inspects building plan for the newly constructed packaging facility, Enmore.
“Government is stepping out and investing more as you would have heard, an additional $4B was earmarked to GuySuco specifically for the undertaking of critical and capital works,” he noted.
The facility will be manned by 24 persons who will be actively involved in the packaging and storage area.
The contract for the facility was awarded to Surendra Brother Engineering Firm, a company from India while the sub-contract was awarded to Adams project management and Construction Company of Trinidad and Tobago.
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470 health care workers to be trained this year
-as Health Ministry persists to strengthen human resource capacity
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
Training of health care professionals remain a top priority for the Health Ministry and to further ensure the provision of quality service and patient satisfaction, the Health Ministry will be striving this year to create a stronger human resource base within the health system.
President Bharrat Jagdeo during his New Year’s message had indicated that his administration will be focusing on the provision of quantifiable and verifiable standards of health care deliverables by ensuring that quality service provided by both private and public medical service providers are in conformity with the Health Facilities Licencing Act.
Minister within the Ministry of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran while addressing representatives of the media said that several training sessions will be conducted in the coming months to bolster human resource capacity.
Dr. Ramsaran said about 70 persons are to be trained in the midwifery programme which is expected to commence shortly; approximately 125 will be trained in professional nursing, 215 as nursing assistants, 25 as medex and 35 as community health workers.
Minister Ramsaran highlighted that for the second time this month large groups of health care workers in Lethem, Region Nine are being trained at a workshop to upgrade their skills.
During the sessions, he said workers are using the opportunity to highlight challenges which are being experienced in communities.
The Minister added that this year, 29 young trained Guyanese medical students will enter the health system as full practitioners while a further 300 students will return from Cuba and complete their final training.
“In recent years Government and the Ministry of Health have significantly increased the intake of nurses training,” Dr. Ramsaran stated.
During 2009, Government expended millions of dollars to train health care personnel, construct, expand, rehabilitate and maintain numerous health buildings across the regions.
These investments saw the expansion and consolidation of human resource skills to complement health institutions being constructed across the country.
Continued training was done at various levels, including for doctors, medex, professional nurses, community health workers, pharmacy and dental assistants, community dental therapists, dentex and rehabilitation practitioners.
New training programmes were also introduced to increase the staff complement and strengthen the healthcare system.
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Region Seven farmers welcome tilapia ponds
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
The National Agricultural Research Institute’s Station in Region Seven, recently commissioned several tilapia ponds at 1 ½ Miles Bartica/Potaro Road, Region Seven. This facility will benefit a number of farmers from communities in the Lower Mazaruni and Cuyuni areas.
The project is one aspect of a series of developmental projects spearheaded by Agriculture Volunteer, Tessie Bugarin from the Phillipian Volunteer Services Organisation (VSO) serving in Guyana.
The main objective is for the Station to serve as an active demonstration center for farmers, in order to promote the practice of more organic (without fertilizers and pesticides) and inexpensive methods of farming.
Representative of the US Embassy, Claritza Juarez hands over a plaque to Agricultural Officer, Lawrence Louie at the commissioning ceremony.
Farmers had the opportunity to benefit from several workshops and were awarded certificates for their competence in areas such as: seed technology, gathering seeds and the importance proper crop rotation.
Rehabilitation of the center was done through a collaborative effort between the United States Embassy and NARI. This includes construction of a chicken pen, compost shed, guard hut, and a plucking area.
At the commissioning, Regional Chairman, Horbert Knights encouraged farmers to work towards the next stage of the project, which should focus on adding value to their produce through packaging to secure markets locally and regionally.
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Gov’t prepared to finance travel costs of Guyanese nationals in Haiti
Georgetown, GINA, January 20, 2010
As a result of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which hit Haiti on January 12 and its disastrous consequences, the Government of Guyana is prepared to meet the travel costs of all Guyanese nationals in Haiti who are desirous of returning to their homeland.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs , in a release today, advised of this development.
This initiative, of financing the return of Guyanese in Haiti to Guyana, is another example of the progressive and supportive directive that the Administration is pursuing, in ensuring that nationals in lands afar are care for and feel connected to their homeland.
In this regard, contact should be made with the following persons at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Elisabeth Harper or Keishanna Sullivan:
Office of the Director General - Tel: 225-7404 or 226-2632
Esther Griffith or Rovina Deodat:
Protocol and Consular Affairs Department – Tel: 226-9070
In addition to the formation of a national relief effort, chaired by Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand, and supported by the public and private sectors, religious groups and civil society.
Individual citizens have pledged $14M to the Haitian people through a two night telethon, hosted by the National Communications Network which saw members of the main political parties intellectually discuss the formal properties of ensuring a united and dedicated response of a country developing and capable of providing resources to another in a time of need.
All collected supplies will be sent as early as possible through John Fernandes Limited on a ship provided by BK International.
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