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We must demand justice for Jeetindra Sookram and ourselves

Apr 08, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The recent report that a Guyanese brother, Jeetindra Sookram, succumbed as a result of being denied medical attention by a sister CARICOM country, Trinidad, must cause every Guyanese to engage in deep reflection as we determine how we, as individuals and as a nation move forward, with regard to our relationship with this twin island.
Jeetindra Sookram was a tourist who left Guyana to spend his vacation in Trinidad, he was depositing his finances in the Trinidadian economy and he was repaid by ingratitude, inhumane treatment and left to die. What a sickening, cold and, heartless attitude.
For years Guyanese have been mistreated by some of our CARICOM sister states yet those who operate at the highest level of CARICOM seem not to know or are willing to deal with this issue. We know of airport authorities treating Guyanese citizens as less than human, as they make them sit in holding cells for no apparent reason. It is reported that Sookram was denied medical attention at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex because he was not a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.
I question whether Sookram was really turned away because he was not a native of the twin island or because he was a Guyanese. I cannot fathom the Trinidad medical professionals turning away an American citizen or a Bajan national. My thinking is that they might have invoked the principles of the Hippocratic Oath for those whose nationality was not Guyanese.
As a strong advocate of CARICOM and Caribbean integration, I am dismayed and appalled at this situation. A human being who was in desperate need of medical help was left to die, because he was turned away from a medical facility, because he “did not belong”.
Guyanese must be outraged, because it could have been any of us. I know of many Guyanese who are working their heart out in Trinidad and making valuable contributions to the development of the T&T economy, but yet we are being treated like outcasts.
Sookram’s death should cause all of us to reassess how we are treated by some of our sister CARICOM states and decipher whether we will continue to be tourists or residents in those countries. We travel by the plane loads to go to Carnival and have fun. Sookram’s case informs us of what it might mean to fall ill behind a soca truck.
It is, therefore, time to rethink our engagement with the T&T tourist sector, both at the personal and national level. The CARICOM organization has been silent in the face of obvious mistreatment of Guyanese by some member states.
I eagerly wait to see what will be the secretariat’s intervention, if any, in Sookram’s case. Guyanese must not take this tragedy sitting down, as any of us could have been in Sookram’s position. Thus, this issue should affect all of us and cause us to be equally outraged.
We must collectively stand and demand justice for Sookram and for ourselves. Let us call on the leaders of CARICOM to act, and act now. Today it is Sookram tomorrow it is someone else. Guyanese life must be valued, Guyanese must be respected.
Lurlene Nestor

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