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IPC calls for defined process to deal with sensitive medical matters
A clear process should be outlined to deal with sensitive matters that are sent to medical facilities,
Nurse Patricia Singh
and which may require further action by the Human Services Ministry or the police.
This suggestion was made by Representative of the Indigenous People’s Commission (IPC), Nurse Patricia Singh. She was at the time highlighting a few cases that have been gaining the attention of the Commission. As a product of the Constitutional Reform process, the Commission is designed to amplify the challenges faced by indigenous people with a view of protecting their rights and improving their status.
Singh recalled an instance where a toddler was believed to have been sexually molested and was being attended to by a physician who appeared hesitant to deal with the matter in a legal light. However, a nurse au fait with the matter was willing to reveal that it was in fact one that warranted legal attention.
“There are cases where there are (health) personnel who are dealing with them but they do not want to report it…so we need to have a process in terms of how we deal with these cases going to any medical facility.”
Additionally, clarity of the process should extend to the police station regarding matters reported there, Singh said, even as she questioned “when you report the cases to the police station and you are not getting forward movement what do we do?”
The Commission, according to Singh, is putting in place mechanisms to deal more efficiently with complaints even as it seeks to address its financial capability. She revealed that while the ideal situation should see regional presence in terms of welfare, such a measure is currently not possible since there are not enough workers available to deal with cases.
“Even in Georgetown I know that there are lots and lots of cases and I know we do not have a sufficient amount of workers…when cases come to me I quickly try to pass them on to the Human Services Ministry.”
However, the Commission has been assessing a number of cases on its own including one relating to a troubled family in Region Nine.
This family, according to Singh, was first affected when the father abandoned his wife and their seven children. Subsequently, one of the daughters, a teenager, committed suicide.
The family’s dilemma continued when the mother, who was forced to travel to the city, left one of her male children in the care of the St Ignatius School Hostel as she had no place to leave him. Reports are that the lad became hungry and climbed a mango tree to pick the fruit. However, he fell from the tree and suffered a broken jaw, two fractures to his left arm and another to his left femur. There are reports too that he was bleeding through his ear while travelling unescorted to the city to seek medical help, after being treated at the Lethem Hospital.
“I personally went to meet him…I could not understand why a 10-year-old with multiple fractures was sent to the city unescorted.”
Another matter of concern highlighted by Singh was a report emanating from Region Nine about a particular building where young men of questionable character were sexually assaulting young women.
“They woo these young women and they sexually assault them and when they are finished they sometimes put them out on the road without any clothing…” According to Singh, she has spoken with a number of people in authority and “I really hope that something will be done.”
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