Ramdeen challenges Children’s Life Fund Authority

The State has been given until 4 pm tomorrow to rescind its decision or face having the matter go to court. The application for reimbursement was taken up by Ramdeen and attorney Wayne Sturge after Shannen’s parents, Arthur and Michelle Luke’s application for funding for their daughter’s medical procedure was rejected by the authority.

The board had concluded that Shannen’s condition was not life threatening.

Shannen has been diagnosed with Beta Thalassemia Major, a blood related disorder, and requires a monthly blood transfusion unless a bone marrow transplant is done. Since the hemopoietic transfusion cannot be done in Trinidad, Shannen’s parents have had to raise funds to have the procedure done at Bambino Gesu Hospital in Italy.

It has been set for May 2.

So far, her parents have raised the 158,000 euros for the procedure, but they still need funds for their travel and stay in Italy and Shannen’s after care.

Ramdeen, at a news conference yesterday at his Cornelio Street, Woodbrook office, said the proceedings were brought to not just challenge Shannen’s case, but to challenge the interpretation by the board of management.

He said the policy and interpretation of the board would affect every child that applied to the Children’s Life Fund for medical care.

“One finds it inexplicable how the board of the Children’s Life Fund could write and say they are legally precluded from reimbursement of expenses,” he said.

“The board didn’t consider that they (the family) had to buy tickets to go there, that it is not covered by the 158,000 euros? Did they not consider that the family has to stay there?” Ramdeen said he has retained the services of a doctor who is willing to testify that Shannen’s condition is life threatening.

“If anyone with this illness goes to Mt Hope and the blood is not available or the medicine is not available or they are unable to get that transfusion, there is only one conclusion to that child’s life, they will die. If that doesn’t mean it’s life threatening, then something is definitely wrong,” Ramdeen said.

Ramdeen denied that this motion was politically or financially motivated. He said they were going to ask the court for an interim order that the authority disclose to the all the material that was considered by the board in the assessment of the application made on behalf of Shannen.

“Every cent the State will have to pay in this matter will be put into an account in the name of Shannen Luke for her parents to pay for her operation and the after care, so these proceedings are brought solely for the benefit of that child.

Ramdeen said he has also been seeking the assistance of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in getting the family’s passports and visas organised.

He said because of the unrest in Venezuela, where the Italian visas would have been granted, the packages were stuck in the country because FedEx, through which it was sent, was unable to access its own building.