Non-functioning air conditioning at some sections of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) over the past few months have workers hot and bothered because complaints to the authorities have yielded no results. “The heat is unbearable. We are working under these conditions and once we are getting the job done, management does not care,” a worker complained.
The areas affected are the Caura Chest clinic, cardiology and nephrology clinic. The Paediatric and Medical Departments are also without functioning air conditioning. The cardiology clinic has a small standing fan but members of the public use pieces of paper as fans to cool themselves. The worker said conditions are especially deplorable in the Medical Records section which has no ventilation. She said the area is now called “San Quentin” after a prison in the US because of its steel door and “one little window.” She said the Complex Administrator sent out a memo stating that the AC will be fixed on August 8 but to date, the situation remains unchanged.
Another complaint is the stench of urine at Building One, where the Cardiology, nephrology and Caura Chest clinics are conducted. She said the stench has been around for the past two and a half months. “We complained to the Vice President of Quality, the Complex Administrator, Engineering and Cleaning Departments but no one did anything, and the stench is getting worse.” There is also a foul odour at the General Practice area after waste matter is washed from the mortuary. Contacted on Wednesday for comment, communications officer for the North West Regional Health Authority Lisa Lalsingh said that the problems identified by workers are being addressed.
THA Education Secretary Orville London said that last week’s two-day meeting of primary school principals and teachers in Tobago was called in order to find out what constraints existed in the proposed Continuous Assessment Programme (CAP) and to evaluate them.
Responding to a release from TTUTA, which voiced concern over what was described as premature implementation of CAP in primary schools in Tobago, London said that as far as the THA Education Division was concerned, CAP was not just about human and physical resources but, more importantly, about education delivery. He noted that in that context, discussion was not only relevant but necessary and he said, “The bottom line is we must talk about the process in order to achieve the objectives.”
According to TTUTA, there were certain basic pre-requisites for the proper implementation of CAP and that it was too valuable a measure for a “slap-dash, unstructured, poorly planned implementation which would guarantee its failure.” It further called on the THA Education Division to desist from a haphazard, arbitrary approach on this matter and to ensure that the various education reforms were implemented in a proper fashion. London, however, denied that CAP was being prematurely implemented in Tobago. Rather, he said, it was being discussed and evaluated so that it could be implemented successfully.
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) does not agree with BWIA’s claim that the cancellation of Caribbean Star Airlines’ licence to operate the airbridge would have little impact on the route.
Assemblyman Neil Wilson, whose portfolio includes tourism, said he did not agree with the statement made last week by BWIA spokesman Clint Williams that Caribbean Star’s presence has had very little impact on BWIA’s operations on the airbridge. In spite of this however, BWIA, Tobago Express and hotelier Allan Clovis have requested a public hearing to raise their concerns about Caribbean Star’s continued service on the route. Wilson said, “During the last couple of weeks, there were all kinds of problems and I don’t know that Tobago Express can handle the demand.” He added, “The official position of the THA is that the more carriers on the route the better it is for the travelling public.”
Contacted in Antigua yesterday, Paul Moreira, President and Chief Operating Officer of Caribbean Star, said about the airbridge service, “We are extremely satisfied that in a very short period of time, we have been able to develop a great load factor and we look forward to continuing the service and even possibly increase frequency.” Moreira thought it unfortunate that while the Caribbean governments were forging ahead with efforts at integration, “there is a Caribbean carrier that would take up a position to have another carrier stopped from providing service on that route.” He added that while the governments were talking cooperation between airlines in the region, “here is BWIA taking action against another Caribbean carrier.”
According to a handling agent at Piarco International airport, since Caribbean Star started providing service on the airbridge, it has provided critical cargo capacity on the route, which had not been available in the past. While BWIA and Tobago Express are griping about cabotage, the extra capacity provided by Caribbean Star during the just concluded vacation season and its extra sections over the longer holiday weekends have allowed passengers, an ease in the stress traditionally associated with holiday travel on the airbridge. The Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA), since its decision to hold a public hearing, has not set a date for such a hearing. Chairman Ram Bissessar said two weeks ago that it should be scheduled before September 15, which is just days away, but there has been no word from the Authority.
THE EDITOR: The anniversary of the World Trade Towers’ bombing is coming up. Most likely the dailies’ editors will have a hard time sorting through the many Reuters and AP stories and pix to choose the ones to run. There are going to be a few sad stories and self righteous articles denouncing terrorism. Meanwhile the anniversary of our country’s “the day that changed the world” passed by without even an acknowledgement in the dailies. Yes, July 27 passed by without a murmur from the papers, the buildings, lives, and institutions destroyed were forgotten or ignored. The perpetrators of the attempted coup and their gangs drive around in their illegally tinted vehicles with impunity. They have become cult hero figures with the help of the media who turn to them for opinions on everything from union affairs to matters of national security.
It would be funny if it were happening in a different country. The whole country knows that there are groups using religion as a mask for their mob activities which support the kidnapping, gang violence and robbery “industries.” So when you the editors choose the stories and pictures to commemorate September 11, spare a moment to consider why our Bin Laden has become a “hero of the people” created by the media. There’s a generation growing up who don’t know of the atrocities committed by the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen. The media has the power and the responsibility to let them know, as often as possible.
RICHARD DWARIKA
Port-of-Spain
THE EDITOR: Mankind is going mad. Even if you don’t believe the Bible is the word of God. Look around you at nature, do cocks have sex with cocks. No. When you see a cock going after another cock, it is to fight. Male dogs go behind female dogs, bulls have sex with heifers. Procreation is man’s most important function. A man having sex with another man cannot produce a child, neither can two women. So man-man and woman-woman relationships must be against nature. Therefore it’s wrong. It’s perversion.
Nature teaches us truth. It is unnatural for a man to have sex with another man. These people need help. We treat schizophrenics and kleptomaniacs as sick people, because we believe they have unnatural behaviour, so too does the homosexual and lesbian. There are people who get sexual satisfaction from watching buildings burn, should we allow them to do so? I’m gay. But I’m not homosexual. Gay means happy. These people distorted a perfectly legitimate word. Gay softens the stigma of homosexuality — sexual pervert. Anytime man could see evidence of a fact and refuse it; turn his back on it; he is mad. All over the world homosexuals and lesbians are being accepted as normal. This is the height of madness. When the church starts debating what the Bible says is sin, something is wrong with it. When the church starts ordaining homosexuals it should change its name. It is no longer the church. Church and Bible are synonymous. I end with a call to the church be the CHURCH. Call sin by its name. If God be God serve Him and declare what He says, be bigoted.
SHERMAN FYFE
Maraval
THE EDITOR: Minister Rowley must tell us if his bark is worse than his bite. What is Minister Rowley telling us that illegal billboards across the nation’s highways will be removed within a matter of days. Within a matter of days more billboards went up and many more are being prepared. His Ministry has not yet removed one. Minister Rowley are you not telling us that you are not up to the job? Action please.
DUMFRIES BARBER
San Fernando
THE EDITOR: It’s becoming more and more ridiculous that anytime something affects the people of Trinidad and Tobago, we are quick to compare ourselves to the United States of America. This was once again evident as I listened to the Tuesday night news. The residents of Bamboo Settlement were protesting the blockage of the entrance to their village from the Uriah Butler Highway and who, of all people, compared us to America but the Minister of Works and Transport. I’d like the honourable minister to understand that we are a small country of just about 1,864 sq miles, while the United States of America is over three and a half million sq miles and to compare such things as roads to the United States of America is simply absurd.
MICKELL GUNNESSLAL
Student of Iere High School, Siparia
THE EDITOR: Here’s my 2 crix on the abortion debate. I’ve never bought the argument that a foetus is just tissue. A woman’s womb isn’t a Cracker Jack box — it only produces one thing, babies — so that’s what’s growing in there. And because I value human life so highly, I really find it a tragic when someone decides to opt for an abortion. But I’m not alone in that. I think the overwhelming majority of people feel that way — and I don’t mean only anti-abortion activists. People who choose to have abortions surely feel that way too. It isn’t a decision that is entered into lightly, nor one that has no lasting emotional toll. Bottom line is, nobody really likes abortion, anymore than they like any other very hard decision in life. But it is their decision.
So I really hate abortion. But know what I hate more? Children born into misery. Unwanted children, abandoned children, children born to unfit, unhealthy or unaware mothers due to lack of access to contraception or lack of knowledge on birth control options. In the Third World, children are born and die before they reach the age of four knowing nothing but pain and suffering. And why? No access to information on birth control, no access to birth control. And in the western world, children are also born to suffering and illness for the same reasons. It’s funny how the same people who want to promote abstinence and oppose condom handouts in schools are the same people that oppose abortion rights. And funny how the politicians who fight abortion rights are the same ones who are the first to make cuts to programmes that benefit the impoverished single mothers who opted to carry the child to term. Seems these dopes would be very good at oral sex, since they’re talking out of both sides of their mouth. If you oppose abortion, then take steps to curb unwanted and accidental pregnancies. Or shut up. But quit trying to externalise a view of the world that has only ever existed in your deluded childish fantasies.
And while I’m on the topic of deluded childish fantasies, I’ll touch on the Catholic Church who seems to be at the forefront of the opposition to abortion rights, yet there are the ones who have the inescapable stigma of a paedophile priests attached to their men of cloth. I’m sorry, but you guys don’t exactly have any moral high ground to preach and impose upon other people what you think is moral and what isn’t. And you don’t need to promote abstinence. People are born abstinent, and stay that way for quite a while. And people generally know when the time is right for them to explore the sexual dimension of their lives. So why don’t we stop acting like morons, stop making sex seem like anything more than the next, inevitable step in a human’s growth, and approach it realistically with information and discussion. In other words, it’s time to take sex out of the bedroom — and not just by doing it in the kitchen. The key to reducing the spread of STDs, unwanted pregnancies and abortions is information. Forewarned is forearmed, especially in foreplay.
ASHRAM BEACHOO
Toronto, Canada
THE EDITOR: I must say that I am very proud of the Mayor of Port-of-Spain for stopping the selling on the streets. I had stopped coming to Port-of-Spain because of the difficulty that I had moving around. The smell and the congestion on Charlotte Street have been unbearable for too long.
I think that it is time for us to help the Mayor with his plans to improve our capital city. I hope that everyone will be proud one day to come back and see the success that has been accomplished by Mayor Brown.
GEORGIA G LINDERSAY
Diego Martin
THE EDITOR: In the absence of laws and protective policies, the disabled are at the mercy of society who would be in a position of power to choose whether to continue to discriminate against the disabled or whether to exploit them. And as we all know quite often the darkness within man’s heart often prevails against the light. Legislation needs to be passed to ensure fair and reasonable employment practices, full access to public buildings and all educational institutions; not to mention transportation and public housing. These demands on the powers that be are fair, they are reasonable and they are the rights of all citizens of our beloved nation.
The present plight of the disabled citizens of Trinidad and Tobago is essentially no different from the plight of the non-white people under apartheid when it existed in South Africa. The same factor is present in both instances. A people are being denied their rights because of their external features. The disabled are being judged based on their disabilities and not on their abilities. And this is wrong! Are we as a nation going to continue to condone apartheid? Are we willing to say that it is a right for the strong to oppress the weak? But we must not allow this to continue. We must rise up and shake off these chains of tyranny. The people of this nation must say with one resounding voice, “Enough is enough.” A change must come and it must come now. We must work together with the disabled community to bring about real change in the spirit of our national motto, “Together we aspire, together we achieve.”
WAYNE NARANJIT
Champs Fleurs
