This blatant eye pass to poor people must stop

Mar 01, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
An article in Kaieteur News dated Monday 24th February 2014 captioned “Jagdeo air dashed to Florida hospital” reported that the former President had been rushed overseas because of persistent fever and diarrhea, while one in the Stabroek News of the same date captioned “Bharrat Jagdeo in US for medical treatment on suspicion of a virulent strain of dengue or Influenza” reported that he had flown via a charter to Florida “to seek a prognosis on a bout of illness that has left him weakened”.
I am writing to comment on the part of the KN article that speaks about the cost of the trip.
The article says that Mr Jagdeo flew to Florida by a Lear Jet, and that chartering a Lear Jet from Florida to Guyana and back for a medivac would cost between US35,000 (G$7M) to US$40,000(G$8M). I have not seen any denial of these figures.
I am sorry that Mr. Jagdeo is sick and I do hope that he has a speedy recovery. I must make it clear at this point that I am not joining forces with anyone in saying nasty things about him. What I am dealing with here are the facts, and the facts of the matter are that it is downright outrageous for him to hire a jet for that amount of money because he does not have to pay for it, but the poor people of this country who have to pay tax on their earnings and VAT do .
Why is it that Mr. Jagdeo did not use the services of the GPHC or any of the other private health care facility right here in Guyana? Is it that he does not trust the local hospitals or the doctors?
Yes, the Stabroek News reported that he sought medical attention from a local doctor who advised him to seek further medical checks to determine the strain of the virus and to receive necessary treatment as he was not responding well to the treatment here. But that was the opinion of one doctor. I wonder if the former President had to pay for the cost of going to Florida, out of his own pocket, if he would have done that so quickly?
This blatant eye pass to poor people must stop. Here we have single-parent mothers of all races who have to work three or more jobs to provide food, shelter and clothes for their children, killing themselves in the process, and a former president reaping the milk and honey of their labour. How can this be right? Mothers who have sick children have to line up and wait for long periods to see the doctor while a rich man, who I think can certainly take care of his medical expenses, is essentially benefiting off of the sweat of these poor people.
What a big shame. Not so long ago the government announced a new minimum wage of thirty-five thousand dollars per month. I want to ask all the parliamentarians if they as human beings don’t think something is very wrong with that, when under the Former Presidents (Benefits and Facilities ) Bill former presidents would receive so many tax-free benefits (worth more than the minimum wage) when people are barely surviving?
In closing, I would like to challenge all the parliamentarians (especially the women) to raise their voices in one accord over this blood-sucking bill. I plan to keep a record of all that they say and do and see whether we have real people or ghosts representing us in parliament.
Wintress White
Red Thread

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This blatant eye pass to poor people must stop

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