Region Eight has been forsaken by the PPP Govt.

Apr 13, 2014 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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(Excerpts from the Budget debate presentation by Eula Marcello MP)
EDUCATION
Schools across Region Eight are facing very difficult challenges; lack of teaching materials, janitorial supplies, and inadequate textbooks at nursery, primary and secondary school levels. The schools need specialised teachers for specific subjects since teachers who are trained in math and technical drawing are asked to also teach social studies and agriculture science teachers are being

asked to teach maths.
There is no ICT being taught at the secondary schools in Region Eight. Construction of the Paramakatoi Primary School that started in 2012 is still to be completed. The students are housed at the Multi-Purpose Hall and the Paramakatoi Church of Christ. This clearly shows that if the government was serious about education for all Guyanese children, they would have ensured that the construction was completed in a timely manner.
While the government is building schools, however long it takes to complete construction, the buildings alone are not enough. We need teachers from the Hinterland to be trained, so when they would have completed their training they would return to their villages to serve.
There is nothing in the 2014 budget for a technical institute in the hinterland. Are we to take it that this government does not believe that Amerindians are capable of pursuing technical studies?
Why is it that for so long, Amerindian children are being denied the opportunity to realise their dreams of attending a technical institute? Why is it that they have to leave the hinterland to attend technical institutes on the Coast, why the discrimination?
HEALTH
The people of Region Eight suffered tremendously from the shortage of commonly used medicines last year and the same continues this year. Good health is one of the most important things a person must have in order to work and bring progress and improve his livelihood and the livelihood of others. If we are to have a decent health care system in this country we need to start by paying our health care workers a decent living wage.
It seems that expired-drugs are the order of the day at Region Eight as drugs are not being supplied in a timely manner. In addition, drugs supplied to the hospital, health centres and health post are very much limited and the administrators do not seem to take into account the growing population.
The Government boasts of the increase in the number of nurses and doctors in the health system. While this may be true, most of the health centres in Region Eight do not have a doctor. For example, in the case of Kato Cottage Hospital, there is no doctor and the hospital is managed by two community health workers. There are no Community Health Workers at a number of Community Health Posts, so decent health care delivery cannot be realised in these communities.
In order to have a proper health care system in this country we need adequate staff and adequate medical supplies. We need dedicated medical professionals who are readily available, especially in times of emergencies, and not persons who spend their nights drinking alcohol and their days sleeping so they are hardly at their post.
The Health Minister should pay surprise visits to some of the hinterland locations and then they would know what is going on. How can you trust the diagnosis of a doctor who smells of alcohol? On many occasions persons have to travel to Georgetown at their own expense to see a proper doctor and get proper medical attention. This is why the Georgetown Public Hospital is burdened with minor matters from the hinterland; because the health centres in the hinterland are not properly staffed and equipped. Furthermore, due to shortage of medical supplies in North Pakaraimas, patients are referred to District Hospitals unnecessarily.
WATER
There is no adequate water supply at Region Eight. The Salbora Well goes on and off. Further inland in the interior remote areas, wells dug in 2012-2013 do not serve the public adequately, since there is need for extension of pipelines.
INFRASTRUCTURE
In the years 2012 and 2013 more infrastructural development was promised and more tax dollars were allocated, but all the people have received are a set of sub-standard projects and contractors being overpaid as we read in the Auditor General’s Reports.
When the representatives of the Guyanese people raise questions with the intention that action would be taken to rectify the discrepancies, they end up being victimised and abused, very often by the persons who ought to have seen to the proper implementation of the projects in the first place.
It is recommend that central government scrutinise developmental projects from the initial stages through to completion so that the people who put up the tax dollars to fund the projects can get value for their money. Examples of these include the Paramakatoi/Mountain Foot Health Centre since its commencement in early 2012, Arasawa Health Post not completed though it started three years ago, X-Ray department extension commenced early this year and is left incomplete, so there is no X-Ray service at Mahdia.
It must be noted that the Public Works budget for Region Eight was reduced. The Region will now get less than it did last year for this critical sector.

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