Aabida Allaham

“There have been some concerns by our Chief Medical Officer of Health (Dr Anton Cumberbatch), and our Public Health Inspector (Dr Daniel Chang), with respect to how those toilets are carried… these trucks come out very early, particularly on Carnival Tuesday and I think some of those trucks would have been loaded from around six in the morning and would usually be on the road for about 12 hours, so how often they are serviced is something the public health department is not too certain about. Besides that, there have been numerous complaints of people falling sick on Ash Wednesday,” Brown said.

The Mayor, who recently returned from a week-long trip to New York, USA, said he was not aware of the decision by the Public Health Department to prohibit the use of the portable toilet trucks or portable food by the Carnival bands even though a letter was sent through City Hall’s administration department by Chang on August 18.

Nevertheless, he said he was in full agreement with the decision because “the Public Health Department wants to ensure that proper health standards are maintained” and it was “the corporation’s job to look after the health of Port of Spain”.

In terms of food preparation, the Mayor insisted that all they wanted was for the bands providing all inclusive service to offer hot food that was no older than four hours.

“Bands leave their site as early as seven, so if you have food on that vehicle from that time and so on, and is not to be served till about midday and it is not properly heated at the prescribed temperature, it is very likely the food will spoil,” he said.

When asked what would be provided in place of the portable toilet trucks, Brown recalled a time when the National Carnival Commission set up toilet banks in and around the Queen’s Park Savannah so that was always another option.

Meanwhile, a representative from Island People Mas said while it was in complete agreement with the decision taken by the Public Health Department, it wanted the corporation and the Public Health Department to make the decision a national policy and not one that only affects bands providing all-inclusive services.

According to the representative who wanted to remain unidentified, a percentage of the Carnival population, including spectators, was still at risk for food poisoning if they purchased food from street vendors or left home with their own food.

Vice president of the National Carnival Bandleaders Association, David Lopez, added that while “the law is the law” he hopes that all the stakeholders involved in putting on the greatest show on earth make the mas safe for all the participants since “90 per cent of the people who play Carnival are women”.

“They just have to make sure that whatever they decide on now is properly lit, well cleaned, with proper security,” he said.

Rickie Ramdass rramdass@trinidadexpress.com

no time: Kawli Jaggernath weeps outside the Forensic Science Centre, Federation Park, St James, yesterday as she recounts Sunday’s suicide by her husband, Anand Rampersad. -Photo: CURTIS CHASE

THE WIFE of a security officer who committed suicide on Sunday yesterday described him as a dedicated husband who did whatever it took to make his family happy.

Kawli Jaggernath witnessed her husband of 19 years shoot himself in the head and she believes that the stresses of his work drove him to that point.

On Sunday around 2 p.m., Rampersad, 48, a security officer with Thor Security Services and a former police officer, committed suicide while seated in the family car, outside his workplace at Players on the Avenue, Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook.

At the Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park, Long Circular, while awaiting her husband’s autopsy results along with other relatives, Jaggernath, 49, yesterday spoke of a man, who she said desired being with her, but was unable to do so for any lengthy period of time because of the demands of his job.

“We never had time for each other. We had time for nothing. Not even time to make love. He was always working. Sometimes when he was sleeping and we had to wake him up for work, he would not even be able to wake up. He was over-working and was always tired,” Jaggernath said, adding that she too worked for the security company.

“On Sunday I kept calling him on his phone, but he did not answer. So I take the car and went down to where he was working to drop off some fruits for him.

“When I saw him, I asked him how he was not answering his phone. He told me: ‘Darling, I throw it away you know.’ So I asked him why he threw away the phone, and he said let’s go around the corner and he will show me why.

“When we gone he said he did not want us to separate and then he tell me to come close. When I see him pull out the gun and put it to his head, all I could of screamed was ‘Oh God no’,” she said.

Jaggernath said, her husband never showed any signs of being suicidal.

“I never though he would have killed himself. He was a great man. I don’t think there is another man out there like him. It have no more man like that outside there,” she said before she broke down in tears and had to be led back into the Centre by relatives.

Rampersad’s funeral service will take place tomorrow, where he lived at Cashew Gardens, Longdenville, Chaguanas.

Second Regular Session of the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Commission of Women. OAS Photo

“In an environment in which women already have a hard time keeping their jobs or finding new employment opportunities, the unemployment caused by the crisis will probably affect more women than men in our region,” OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said. The proportion of poor women is growing in a region in which poverty “already has a woman’s face,” Insulza said.

“We wish the CIM to be the setting where strategies aimed at bringing attention to the needs of women will be agreed upon, at propelling actions leading to the elimination of obstacles that obstruct the equal economic participation of men and women, and also to develop in a forum to promote the strengthening of democracy and governance through mechanisms that ensure a greater participation of women at all levels in the politics in their countries,” Insulza stated.

The Secretary General also announced today the beginning of a new and closer relationship between the General Secretariat of the OAS and the CIM. “It is because of the CIM’s importance that we have decided to include its Executive Secretariat in the Executive Council of the General Secretariat, so that it may contribute to our most important decisions and above all to remind us constantly of the priority that this Organization must accord to gender affairs.”

For her part, the President of the CIM and Chilean Minister of Women’s Affairs, Laura Albornoz Pollmann, said that with these changes the CIM “enters a new era,” adding that the year 2010, in which the Inter-American Year of Women will be celebrated, “not only will be the year of the CIM, but rather will be the year of the OAS in women’s affairs.”

This sentiment was expressed by CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington when he addressed the opening of the 5th CARICOM-Mexico Joint Commission in Mexico City last Thursday.

Edwin Carrington, CARICOM Secretary General

“We in CARICOM have benefited from projects which have resulted in the strengthening of regional institutions, the enhancement of human resource development, and the fostering of new research and development areas within the Region. For these we are deeply grateful,” said the Secretary-General.

He expressed the hope that the Joint Commission would be a vehicle to further advance discussions on a number of pending project proposals. He informed that the proposals were in areas such as capacity building, tax policy design, and statistical development. He added that the Region looked forward to discussions on possible future areas of cooperation such as maritime transport, agriculture, climate change, health and crime and security

“All of these areas are of critical importance to the livelihood, well-being, and in some cases, the very survival of the peoples of our hemisphere. The Community particularly welcomes the opportunity to re-engage Mexico on the issue of energy conservation. Now that the CARICOM Secretariat has established an Energy Unit we are better placed to advance our cooperation in relation to Regional Energy Policy as was foreseen in the Final Act of the Fourth Joint Commission. Given the Region’s high level of energy insecurity, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this issue,” Mr. Carrington stressed.

He added that hemispheric issues remained prominent for the Region since as members of the same hemisphere CARICOM Member States and Mexico share a number of commonalities, concerns and challenges.

“These commonalities are today no more evident than with respect to the thorny issues of the global financial and economic crisis, Climate Change and security all of which critically require not only hemispheric but global cooperation. CARICOM and Mexico have a unique role to play in this regard,” said Mr. Carrington.

He credited the diplomatic role Mexico continues to play internationally including as a member of the United Nations (UN).

The CARICOM-Mexico Joint Commission was established in 1974, making Mexico the first country to establish a Joint Commission with CARICOM.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Health authorities in Suriname have reported a second swine flu-related death, while the number of patients suffering from the influenza AH1N1-virus reached 106. The ministry of Public Health in a press release disclosed on Monday that a number of test results were received from the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago, of which 7 tested positively for the disease.

Including test results from the past four weeks the number of infected patients increased to 106. However all the patients have already recovered. Since the swine-flu virus were discovered in may this year two people succumbed to complications related to the infection, said the Health ministry.

According to the ministry “the latest death is a female who was hospitalized with a serious heart condition”. The ministry of Health further reports that currently no patients with flu-like symptoms are being treated in the intensive care unit of the Academic Hospital. Meanwhile three adults and one child who contracted the virus were being treated last week in several other hospitals.

Since the number of patients with flu-like symptoms who are being treated in hospitals around the country or seeking treatment at health clinics are dropping, the authorities claim that the first wave of the virus is over its peak. On a daily basis currently around two people are seeking treatment for flu infections. “This definitely indicates that the first wave of the Mexican flu in Suriname has reached its peak. However, the ministry of Health, once again insist that we remain vigilant,” said the statement.

This development have led the authorities to close the emergency clinic at the Academic Hospital and patients are being advised to seek treatment at their family doctor or in case of a serious situation to report at the Emergency Unit of the Academic Hospital. In accordance with guide lines of the World Health Organization (WHO) all patients with flu-like symptoms who consult a doctor are tested for swine flu.

Meanwhile, the government is finalizing plans to launch a massive campaign to vaccinate vulnerable groups such as senior citizens, patients with serious health issues and diabetics against the common flu.

“The new vaccine against the A(H1N1) virus, which has begun being administered in more developed countries, is highly effective, but also very expensive,” said Health Minister Luis Estruch.

Vials of H1N1 vaccine. AFP PHOTO

“Our country is seeking the cooperation of the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization in obtaining the vaccine so it can be administered to those people most vulnerable to the virus,” he said.

Speaking to official daily newspaper Granma, Estruch said that Cuba has purchased stocks of the seasonal flu vaccine, which does not specifically protect against swine flu, and would vaccinate the population groups at greatest risk.

With 468 confirmed cases of infection and no deaths from the A(H1N1) virus, Cuba is taking various measures, including a strong media campaign, to prevent a second wave of infections in the autumn.

Guyana’s Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon

This was announced by the Secretary to the Cabinet Roger Luncheon on Monday following the signing of an agreement with the investors of Cacique International Hotel Inc.

The hotel which is located behind the Princess Buddy International Hotel (formerly Buddy’s Hotel) at Providence, next to the country’s National Stadium, begun construction back in 2006 with the intention of cashing in on the ICC Cricket world Cup West Indies 2007 when several matches were played here.

However, the construction was stalled two years ago due to financial problems and the investors made several attempts to obtain funding to complete the project.

There were clear signs from the inception when they turned to government for a 30 million dollar loan.

Luncheon in making the announcement said the administration’s move to finance the completion of the project was the final option after failed efforts to get the private sector involved “a broad agreement has been reached with the stakeholders and the government of Guyana to complete the project. In financing the completion of the project, our expectation is that it will not go beyond the end of 2009 or maybe early 2010.”

He noted that the agreement also stipulates that the facility be sold upon completion as government has no interest in management.

“The proceeds will then be used to retire the existing liabilities that have been incurred by the stakeholders,” he said.

A final financial input from government is still to be determined and according to Luncheon this will be done after the contractor submits his estimate.

The facility, according to the cabinet secretary, when completed will target high end occupants including diplomats and high level overseas delegations.

In 2007, before the start of the Cricket World Cup, government advanced the Cacique Banquet Hall and Hotel a sum of $33.7 million to assist in the completion of the facilities. The sum was meant as an advance payment for rooms that would have been occupied by officials during the tournament.

However, with the failure of the company to complete the construction of the facilities, many worried that government would have failed to recover the sum advanced.

This deal, and the completion and sale of the hotel, will ensure that such worries are not realized.