Region Six driver contemplates next move after sudden transfer

Sep 13, 2025 News

---

– alleges political victimisation

Kaieteur News – Regional Health Services driver, Stanley Jacobs, of Fort Ordinance, Canje, Berbice is assessing his dilemma of having to either sidestep orders for his transfer to another location, or accept and endure the inconveniences.

The 43-year-old father of five was left confused after he received an official letter from Regional Health Officer of Region Six, Dr. Vinashri Khirodhar, informing him of his transfer to another health institution along the Corentyne. The body of the letter seen by this newspaper reads.

“This serves to inform you that you are hereby assigned to Port Mourant Hospital effective 8th September, 2025. Kindly report to hospital administrator (ag) Ms. S. Nabi who will assign you your duties.”

Jacobs told Kaieteur News that in all his years of commitment to the regional facility, he has never been confronted with such a situation, one which he reasoned has political bearings.

He began his stint as a driver back in 2010, and is a member of the recently formed Simona Broomes-led Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity (ALP).

Weighing in on his circumstances, Jacobs summed up his dedication and dutifulness as well as respect for superiors as beyond question. He said the only possible reason for his transfer is political vindictiveness.

“That’s the only other thing I can say. Me and she ain’t had no vibes, nothing. I ain’t know if it’s because I went with my family – Ms. Broomes, the ALP. But that’s my constitutional right. It’s not like I ever abscond from work.”

Frustrated, Jacobs is using the final few days of his annual leave as a temporary delay while he attempts to plot his next step. His annual leave comes to an end on September 14.

Assuming duties at the Port Mourant hospital would be a major impediment to his domestic responsibilities, which include ensuring that all of his five children are set for school, Jacobs told Kaieteur News.

Asked if he sought to engage Dr. Khirodhar, Jacobs recalled her dismissal of his plight and her firmness on the decision. Jacobs said he was informed by Khirodhar that she has another driver traveling all the way from Alness, which is beyond Port Mourant. Jacobs related to her that the situation is not the same.

“I told her that will be hard for me. I don’t have no family up that side…. I don’t know if she wants to pressure me to leave the work or what, I don’t know.”

A better suggestion, according to the frustrated driver, would have been to assign him to the New Amsterdam hospital which is currently experiencing a shortage of drivers. He believes that her refusal to arrange that relief to the institution located just a few steps away, indicates her intent to punish him.

Being familiar with the network of official drivers within the region, Jacobs confirmed that Port Mourant currently has four, an amount he believes is sufficient.

Multiple attempts to contact Dr. Khirodhar directly were unsuccessful, but very shortly after Jacobs’ story began making rounds on social media, the regional health services sought to dispute the claims of victimisation, characterising the RHO’s decision as nothing out of the ordinary.

“We wish to clarify that the transfer of drivers across health institutions within Region Six is a standard and customary practice. Such transfers are carried out whenever there is a need to fill gaps and ensure the efficient delivery of health services. The transfer of Mr. Stanley Jacob is no different. On Monday, September 8, 2025, Mr. Jacob was reassigned from the Regional Health Services Department to the Port Mourant Hospital to cover a critical shift. This became necessary as one of the hospital’s drivers is currently on leave, and Mr. Jacob was the only available driver on duty,” the agency stated in its release.

The reassignment of Jacobs was for the sole purpose of maintaining the process of emergency patient transfer, as the medical oversight body of the region also held that any other suggested motive is a misrepresentation of facts.

In its own statement condemning the treatment meted out to its member, the ALP through its leader Simona Broomes regarded the development as politically motivated. The party leader sounded the ALP’s unequivocal calls for an annulment of the transfer orders, which, according to the politician, amounts to spiteful political conduct.

“This is political persecution, an intimidation tactic and an abuse of public office that directly contradicts the president’s recent inaugural call for unity. The ALP condemns this in the strongest terms. We demand an immediate reversal of the transfer, an independent investigation, and that those responsible be held accountable,” Broomes expressed in an official ALP release on social media.

The party, she affirmed, ALP will not allow political bullying, adding that “we stand with Mr. Jacobs and every citizen punished for exercising their democratic rights.”

---

• Berbice, Canje, political victimisation, Stanley Jacobs, transfer

---