GGMC imports meds for mercury-poisoned workers

Mar 23, 2018 News

GGMC Commissioner, Newell Dennison

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is actively trying to get medical assistance for its workers who have been found with elevated levels of mercury in their blood.
Yesterday, GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison told Kaieteur News that medications that are not available in Guyana are being imported from the United States of America.
Kaieteur News understands that the drugs will reach Guyana in less than two weeks.
Further, all employees who have been tested locally are also going to be retested. Samples of their blood have reportedly already been sent overseas.
Dennison said that the GMMC continues to treat the matter of mercury poisoning “very seriously.”
He said that the entity will stand all the necessary costs associated with helping the workers affected by the mercury emissions.
Workers were exposed to excessive mercury emissions from a lab hosted in GGMC’s compound where gold is burnt to get rid of the mercury. The facility actually belongs to the Guyana Gold Board but is housed in GGMC’s compound.
Gold Board Chairman, Gabriel Lall told the media yesterday that a Trinidadian firm will, over the next two days, conduct several tests at the Brickdam compound where the lab is housed. He said that the firm will be checking to see if the emissions of mercury are limited “so that we can have a certain level of security again.”

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