Latest update April 8th, 2025 7:13 AM
Suddie Hospital ordered to desist from dumping in Red Village
Scattered hospital waste in the community.
The dumping of harmful hospital waste into Red Village, Onderneeming on the Essequibo Coast will now have to cease. Simultaneously, the administration of Suddie Hospital has been ordered to secure and sanitize the area.
This was according to Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud during a brief telephone interview on Saturday last.
Persaud explained that he had summoned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to launch an investigation into the unsecured dumping of medical waste into the Amerindian community, which was established by Food for the Poor (Guyana) Incorporated.
After receiving complaints from residents, Executive members of the Alliance for Change (AFC), during February last year, visited the area and brought the people’s plight to light.
The party last visited Red Village last month, and the area was reportedly still in an appalling condition.
The open dumpsite contains all kinds of medical waste, including blood-soaked gauze, human bones, syringes, and materials resembling the placenta (the afterbirth). Residents had said that dogs would go to the dumpsite and return to the village with human remains.
Residents had complained of being fed up with the serious health hazards that the dumpsite posed. The site, which is just about 70 metres from the village, is not fenced or isolated from the public in any way. AFC Nigel Hughes described these as a violation of the environmental legislation and a medical crisis waiting to happen.
Villagers were particularly worried about the children of the area who would play with injurious syringes, threatening to “bore” each other with it. Some of the affected persons had also complained of their children contracting mysterious illnesses.
The dumpsite also posed as a threat to the water supply to the village which caters for about 1,000 residents.
Whenever it rains, the waste water would run down into the conservancy where villagers do their laundry and bathing and which is shared with animals. Ever since the establishment of the scheme, there has been no potable water and electricity. Residents are being forced to purchase water at a cost of $2,000 per tank.
Just last week Hughes reiterated a call for the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to ensure that the people of Red Village are supplied with potable water and electricity.
Meanwhile, Minister Persaud said that he is very disappointed with the way that the hospital had been dumping the harmful waste. He stressed that the Suddie Hospital administration will have to sanitize the area and desist from dumping as soon as possible.
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