A Gasparillo couple is calling on the San Fernando General Hospital to release the body of their baby, who died hours after his birth so they could give him a decent cremation. The parents — Oneil and Leela Ganga — also want hospital authorities to tell them how their baby died after he was born healthy and had a strong heartbeat. 

The mother said no one at the hospital wanted to give answers and she was hoping and praying the hospital did not dispose of the body without her permission. The parents are seeking legal advice. Ganga said her baby was delivered by caesarean section and she and her husband were able to hold him and even take a photo of him on their cellphone. 

That picture, plus a sympathy card from the hospital, which bears the baby’s hand and footprints, a lock of his hair, his navel string and hospital identification are all the reminders she has of her baby. Ganga, who was almost seven months pregnant with her first child, said she was admitted to the hospital on October 10 after arriving there in excruciating pain. 

She said an ultrasound showed the baby was on his side and one of his hands was pointing towards her womb which might have been responsible for the pain. She said her amniotic sac was broken by a nurse. “I don’t know what happened when the nurse broke my water bag (amniotic sac) but I started to bleed heavily... from my pillow to my blanket, they were all soaked with blood.”

Ganga said she was taken into the theatre to have a c-section and was given seven injections but still felt every cut into her flesh. “I kept bawling, ‘Ouch, ouch,’ every time they jook me with the knife. They tie my foot and hands and then they put me under anaesthetic and placed a tube down my throat. After that I went into a sleep.” She said when she woke around 4 am that Saturday morning, she asked for her baby and the nurses told her he was all right.

Around 6 am, she said, the baby, although premature, was brought to her in her bed at Ward 13b. She and her husband, who both held the baby, were emotional and were in tears, she said, and she begged the nurse on duty to allow her to take a picture on her cellphone which she is now glad she did. Ganga said her husband left shortly after around 7 am to get clothes for her and the baby.

“Shortly after he left the nurse came and asked me for his cell number. He had only reached by the security booth when they called him. “He run up because he thought something had happened to me. He came up to the ward and stood by the nursery door, which was two beds away from my bed. I saw him crying and I knew something was wrong and he told me that the baby had died.”

Geeta said she was discharged on Sunday, without the body of her baby and when they asked for the baby, staff at the hospital told her husband he had to come and sign a death certificate, then get a birth certificate and sign some other document before they would be told how the baby died. “It seems as though they are hiding something, “ Ganga said. 

CEO of the South West Regional Health Authority Anil Gosine said he was not aware of the incident but now that it has been brought to his attention he would have the matter investigated.

Days after the launch of a book commemorating his work, veteran masman Stephen Lee Heung, 93, died on Monday night from pneumonia at St Clair Medical Centre. The book, We Kind ah People, by American judge and Carnival researcher Ray Funk and local photographer George Tang, was launched on October 7 at the National Library, Port-of-Spain. Yesterday Lee Heung’s son, Shane, said: “Dad died of a chest infection. Mucus had developed in his lungs and he was having problems breathing properly. 

“Dad suffered a stroke in 1997 but was mobile afterwards with the aid of crutches and a cane. “After a while he simply gave up and stopped going out. The last time he went out was to attend Dimanche Gras in 2012.” Peter Minshall designed Lee Heung’s 1976 Band of the Year winner, Paradise Lost, the first band Minshall had designed. 

Yesterday he said: “There are bandleaders and then there are bandleaders. The current crop is blatantly into making money on the work that they had learnt from the likes of Stephen Lee Heung, who never ever lost the love of making mas. We have lost one of the great producers of classic Caribbean art.” Five-time Band of the Year winner Edmond Hart, now 91, said: “I am taken aback by Stephen’s death. We were very friendly and were in the same Lions club. 

“When I first produced mas, Stephen played one year with me. He and his wife, Elsie, and my wife, Lil, and I were regarded as the couples of mas. We worked together abroad on a number of occasions,” he added. Hart’s son, Luis, now leader of Harts International, added: “Stephen and Elsie were responsible for giving many of the big designers their first break in mas. He did so much for T&T Carnival and was a true pioneer. 

“Many of the people who began by collaborating with Stephen ended up being some of the greatest contributors to mas in terms of visual excellence. My parents and the Lee Heungs were Carnival’s mas couples. “They were close as they were couples dealing in mas, closer than the others, like George Bailey and Harold Saldenha.” The late Wayne Berkeley also designed some of Lee Heung’s winning bands and his producer Earl Patterson said:

“Stephen was one of the best bandleaders of all time. The type of person he was... he had a welcoming heart to everyone. “The first time we were really close was when we travelled to Dallas, Texas, with Wayne Berkeley’s band. We sat for hours during the day, playing rummy and bonding. “On our return to Trinidad we continued playing rummy at Stephen’s home on Alberto Street. I remember that he loved a fried breadfruit very much. 

“I want to express my deepest condolences to Shane and the family.” D Midas Associates leader/designer Stephen Dereck said: “Another one from the glory days has passed. “Artistes like us cannot forget the creations he gave us. Stephen was one of the founders of the bandleaders’ association and he was also one of the first people to tour abroad with our mas, going to Montreal for Expo ‘67.”

Shane Lee Heung said funeral arrangements would be announced later this week, with the funeral tentatively scheduled for next week.

Despite nearly four hours of intense discussions between Government and members of civil society organisations, the controversial Debe to Mon Desir section of the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway will go on. And there is also no need for mediation, Works Minister Surujrattan Rambachan said yesterday.

The meeting, which was chaired by Rambachan, also included Minister in the Ministry of Works Stacy Roopnarine, head of the National Infrastructure Development Company of T&T (Nidco) Dr Carson Charles and Doolar Ramlal, director of health and safety in the Works Ministry. It was held at the ministry’s head office at Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain. 

Initially, some 29 civil society groups had supported the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) in its call for mediation and further dialogue but that figure has now grown to 41. The specific areas of concern raised by the groups in a letter were:
1. That Government properly considers the Armstrong report and recommendations. 
2. That Government give serious consideration to the new proposal by the HRM as an alternative to the construction of the Debe to Mon Desir Highway.
3. All further work be halted on the Debe to Mon Desir Highway only but work could proceed apace on the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway.

At the start of yesterday’s meeting, Rambachan made it clear the matter was before the court and was therefore subjudice. Paula Lucie-Smith, founder of the Adult Literacy Tutors Association (ALTA), said civil society groups were not technical experts and as such they could not assess any particular aspect of the Armstrong Report and were also unable to pronounce on the optimum connectivity proposal which the HRM wanted implemented as an alternative route.

“Our concern as civil society is the process and this will help us to be able to live together in our communities. We are not here to discuss the merits or demerits of any particular roadway system,” Lucie-Smith said. There were tense moments during the meeting, as Rambachan pressed civil society members to state exactly what they wanted, noting they kept repeating they were not technical experts and could make no pronouncements.

“I came with the technical team and I made it very clear those are the three points to discuss and they came to say that’s not what they want,” Rambachan said. “They want to discuss the process... the process about what? The highway or about general development and there was no clear answer with regard to that also but I had a duty to meet with them. “I don’t see the need for mediation. What I see is civil society asking three particular questions and we came to respond.” 

Charles, in referring to the Armstrong Report, said there was never an agreement on Nidco’s part to abide by it. He said it was the Joint Consultative Council (JCC) which decided to publish the report and make public statements on the issue. Political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah, who was also present, said another step was needed, as there were different judgments on technical issues which required determination to the satisfaction of the country.

But some civil society representatives also described yesterday’s meeting as a “charade”, adding that they were forced to listen to a presentation from the Government on the merits of its objectives.

Hunger strike continues

Contacted yesterday, HRM leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh said he would not budge from his hunger strike as nothing solid or meaningful has been offered by Government. The environmentalist also reiterated his call for mediation.

Saying he was not disappointed at the outcome of yesterday’s meeting between the Government and civil society bodies, Kublalsingh said he was still hopeful an alternative route would be taken into consideration. He also maintained that wetlands would be adversely affected by Government’s plan. “Our position is the Prime Minister has promised to put it on hold and review it. She is yet to do that and so the strike continues,” Kublalsingh said.

Leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen Yasin Abu Bakr was denied entry to Jamaica last night and then detained there. He is expected to be deported back to T&T today. Bakr had reportedly left Port-of-Spain for Jamaica to attend the ‘Million Man March’ event at the National Arena, Kingston, on Sunday. The event is being hosted for the first time outside the United States and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is slated to speak.

On his Facebook page yesterday, Abu Bakr’s son, Fuad, said his father was to be a guest of Farrakhan and was also using the opportunity to visit one of his daughters at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. But shortly after disembarking from the Caribbean Airlines flight at the Norman Manley International Airport, he was denied entry and taken into custody, RJR News reported.

Sources told the T&T Guardian earlier that Abu Bakr was initially handcuffed and put on board flight BW457, which was due to return to Piarco shortly after 9 pm last night. But minutes later he was taken off the flight and detained by authorities in Kingston. Abu Bakr reportedly protested noisily when detained by the Jamaican officials and tried to insist on being allowed to attend the event. The flight left without him.

Contacted yesterday, National Security Minister Gary Griffith denied Bakr’s detention was an act of retaliation by the Jamaican authorities over T&T’s refusal to allow entry to 13 Jamaicans last week. Griffith is expected to meet with Jamaican officials to discuss that issue. Griffith said the Jamaican authorities have a right to deny entry into their country anyone they considered to be a national security.

He said the granting of a CSME certificate “does not prevent the authorities from denying entry to anyone who was considered to be a national security threat into any Caribbean state. “No one must be allowed to walk into another state as if he has a divine right to do so with a CSME certificate,” he added. A statement from Jamaica’s National security Ministry yesterday said Abu Bakr was refused entry under Section 4 (1) h of the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, which states: 

“The following Commonwealth citizens (not being persons deemed to belong to the Island as defined by sub-section (2) of section 2) are prohibited immigrants:

(h) any person who, from information or advice which in the opinion of the Minister is reliable information or advice, is deemed by the minister to be an undesirable inhabitant of or visitor to the island.” It said the decision was taken in the interest of national security, given the present threat posed to public safety. Jamaican media reported last night that arrangements were being made for Abu Bakr to spend the night at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre or the Gun Court Rehab Centre.

While neighbouring Caribbean islands yesterday initiated “lockdown” measures against the Ebola threat, T&T’s health authorities were considering a 21-day quarantine for people who have a history of travelling to Ebola-stricken territories to ensure they are virus-free, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan confirmed.

Khan said the proposal is in the works but said T&T would not go as far as banning nationals of West Africa, where Ebola has killed almost 4,500, from travelling to T&T, as St Vincent and St Lucia have done. He said: “We are not contemplating anything like that (banning) but obviously the virus is a case for concern and we will have to discuss the way forward concerning measures to protect everyone in T&T and sensitise people to the issue.

“What we are contemplating are protocols for screening and ensuring the entrance to T&T of people with poor travel histories, particularly from Ebola-stricken states, are flagged and assessed.” Khan spoke about T&T’s moves to strengthen systems to protect the public after a second Texas nurse was identified as having the virus. 

The nurse had attended to a Liberian Ebola victim who had gone to the US but later died at a Texas hospital. The nurse had later flown on a US airline with 132 other people, it was reported. And in the Caribbean, often known as the US’ “backyard”,  St Vincent and St Lucia yesterday placed a ban on nationals of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea entering the two islands. 

St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the ban on nationals of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea was implemented due to St Vincent’s lack of infrastructure to deal with Ebola which has no cure. 

St Lucia PM Kenny Anthony also advised immediate prohibition on people from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone wishing to travel to St Lucia, given the extent of the outbreak of Ebola affecting those locations. Such visitors are denied entry into St Lucia until further notice. Nigerian visitors to St Lucia will also be required to present a recent medical certificate clearing them of the virus, in addition to a visa to be allowed entry. 

Anthony noted that the recent new victim in Texas had prompted “a heightened awareness and necessitated strong action to ensure St Lucia is protected.” On Tuesday also, Grenada’s government said it was considering suspending travel visas to West African nationals. Rising mortality rates there and the growing potential of spread were cited.

Regarding T&T, Khan said the disease was now in the early stage of spread “and we have to protect everyone here which will require stringent measures until something is forthcoming that will give us a sense of security and comfort on the issue. “This is not about dropping ‘restrictions’ on people just ‘for so.’ It is about doing what the rest of the world is trying to do: Taking measures to secure your country from an Ebola threat using mechanisms for any eventuality.”

Khan said the proposal contemplated was that people with a history of travelling among Ebola-hit areas be quarantined for 21 days for active surveillance on any sign of the virus. The quarantine location would be the Caura Hospital. Once they did not show signs of the virus, they would get medical clearance, he said. 

Khan said it was also proposed that people showed their travel history and demonstrated they were not anywhere close to any Ebola-stricken territories. After that, they would be cleared by Immigration and National Security, he said. The Health Minister said he had been discussing the proposal with Chief Medical Officer Dr Colin Furlonge but no decision had been taken on implementation. Cabinet would have to decide on such a matter, he said. 

Khan stressed the virus was contagious, especially where bodily fluids of a patient were concerned. He said the situation was particularly dangerous since people who have pre-existing medical conditions or were in poor health, with a depressed immune system, would be more susceptible to any infective virus and suffer its effects worse than someone who was healthy, without medical issues.

Khan added: “Persons with pre-existing conditions or depressed immune systems will have an increased risk of getting the virus more acutely and showing stronger symptoms.” He noted, for instance, that occurred with the chikungunya virus, where some people with strong immune systems had milder symptoms or for a shorter duration than others who exhibited extreme full-blown symptoms over a longer period.

On the National Energy Skills Centre’s move, advised by the CMO, to postpone the arrival of 100 Nigerian welding students of its drilling school, Khan said the students would eventually arrive in T&T after they showed proof they were Ebola-free.

The Ministry of Health is procuring a specialised bio-containment unit for the treatment of possible cases of Ebola, Chief Medical Officer Dr Colin Furlonge said yesterday. The unit, along with protective equipment for health care workers who may have to screen and treat possible cases of Ebola, is expected to cost the ministry between $5 million and $10 million.

“Of course the issue of recurrent expenditure will be significant as well,” Furlonge said after addressing a meeting of senior national security personnel at the National Operations Centre, Port-of-Spain. The meeting assessed the country’s preparations for the virus which has already claimed the lives of over 4,000 people in five west African countries.  

While he admitted the equipment would take a little over a month to arrive, Furlonge said his ministry was still capable and prepared to deal with possible infections. In the event a case occurs in the interim, Furlonge said the ministry would use an isolation room at a hospital as a temporary measure. 

“Although the risk is real, it is small. The risk of contracting it in our setting is small,” Furlonge said, as he noted that preparations would focus on training and equiping health care professionals and educating the population on proactive safety measures. Asked about the potential risk to health care workers, Furlonge said the ministry would train them in the latest international safety protocols for staff who may have to interact with infected people. 

Referring to the recent case of a Spanish nurse who contracted the virus while treating a missionary taken to Madrid for treatment after being infected in west Africa, Furlonge said: “Those units were not specifically trained to deal with those cases.”

WHO rep: Ebola not airborne

Also speaking at the meeting was Dr Yitades Gebre, adviser on disease preventional and control at the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO)/World Health Organisation (WHO). 

In presenting information on the virus gathered by WHO and its recommendations on containing the outbreak, Gebre rejected the suggestion of attempting to contain it by putting travel bans on travellers from the seven countries affected so far: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Nigeria and most recently Spain and the United States.

“Ebola is not airborne and can only be contracted through contact with bodily fluids. Usually a person suffering with Ebola is so unwell that they can not stand, yet alone walk on an aeroplane,” Gebre said. He said his organisation would host a seminar in Barbados next month where training on screening potential cases of Ebola, which he said was a vital tool in tracking and containing the ongoing outbreak, would be conducted.

National Security officials are denying allegations that a group of immigrants from Ebola-ravaged Liberia passed through T&T recently en-route to the United States. However, the T&T Coast Guard has increased its patrols in coastal waters to ensure such people do not sneak into the country.

Speaking after an Ebola preparation meeting at the National Operations Centre (NOC), Port-of-Spain, yesterday Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews said preliminary checks with her division’s records showed no Liberians had arrived in T&T recently. 

Gandhi-Andrews’ claims were verified by NOC director Garvin Heerah, who said the Ministry of National Security was doing its own investigation into the claim made last month by commander of the US Southern Command, Marine Corps, Gen John F Kelly. 
“We are speaking to our international counterparts to confirm or deny the veracity of the information,” Heerah said. 

However, Heerah and Gandhi-Andrews admitted if Kelly’s claims were true, the group may have entered T&T illegally, and hence would not have been registered in the immigration division’s database. In an address at a forum at the National Defence University in Washington, DC, last month, Kelly said: 
“(The) embassy persons asked who they were and they said, ‘Well, we’re from Liberia and have been on the road for about a week and were on the way to New York City,’... illegally... so not on network. They had flown in through, I think, Trinidad and met up with traffickers and are on the way in. They still could have made it to New York City and still be within the incubation period for Ebola.”

Questioned on the possibility of the Ebola virus arriving here through infected west African illegal immigrants, Heerah said the Coast Guard had already increased its offshore patrols and other arms of the protective services were ready to lend assistance. Saying the NOC was in communication with law enforcement personnel operating in coastal communities used by human traffickers and illegal immigrants, retired deputy police commissioner Mervyn Richardson said: 

“The intelligence community is out there ensuring that anybody who comes in that don’t belong to that area of society is reported to police and dealt with, using the protocols set by the Health Ministry.”

Public Services Association president Watson Duke yesterday demanded $10 million in insurance for doctors, nurses and all health care workers who would potentially have to deal with the Ebola virus if it entered T&T. He said those workers should be paid four times their original salaries whether they contracted the disease or not. Duke also threatened to stop Carnival 2015. 

“We have influence and the power to make things happen or to change the direction of things and when we say there shall be no Carnival, there will be none,” Duke said. He also demanded that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should make a public statement expressing Government’s policy measures on the virus and that Health Minister Fuad Khan must provide proper training for hospital staff by sending a medical team to Africa to gain practical experience of treatment for the virus.

He made those demands during a press conference at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, yesterday, while doctors, nurses and other staff looked on. He complained that Khan had misled the country when he said health institutions were 75 per cent ready for the Ebola virus. He added: “It is a hoax. Hospitals are not ready. They have no medication, no test kits to test for Ebola. They have some ‘jokey’ suits available and this is why the media has not been invited on a tour. 

“They do not know what they are doing. They are playing a hit-and-miss game and so we have challenged them. “The days for ole talk is over. He (Khan) has to come clear with us and settle the score with all the stakeholders and so we reject the view that we are 75 per cent ready. We believe that it is more 25 per cent.”

Duke said the PSA believed people who were at risk of coming in contact with an Ebola patient and becoming contaminated must be given insurance of $10 million and that money must be made available and placed in escrow for them. “We are talking about port health workers. We are talking about immigration, customs, airports authority, ambulance drivers, attendants, dieticians, nurses and doctors.

“This is not just a doctor business. Who told them it is only doctors alone at risk? It is everybody’s business and so everybody must be paid quadruple their salary and must be given extensive training,” he added. He said the PSA was moving toward a strike of the entire health care system and added that T&T should not send aid to Africa but should partner with African countries to send a medical team abroad to learn best practices in treating with the virus.

“So send these workers out there, protect them and let them come back and deal with this first-hand. “If they fail to make us ready, we will be taking action. Right now we are mobilising because the nation needs to be safe,” he said. Speaking out against temporary visa bans to be applied to certain countries, Duke said he did not support any temporary measures.

“We support T&T being ready to treat with Ebola. We may have nationals abroad in African countries who may want to come back home. Do we discriminate against their spouses?” he asked. Doctors also demand higher salaries Doctors are also demanding enhanced pay packages if they are part of the Ebola response team.

CNC3 News reported last night that following a meeting among medical practitioners on Monday at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, a memo was sent to the Director of Health of the North Central Health Authority Dr Rodney Ramroop, following a meeting on Monday, outlining the proposed terms and conditions.

In it, medical chief of staff for the North Central Regional Health Authority Dr Andy Bhagwandass says all medical doctors are of the view that all infrastructure and equipment must be put in place to care for a patient and ensure full protection of medical doctors.

According to the memo, the team will involve all grades of medical doctors who form part of the Ebola response team, including a payment of three times their salary, in addition to their existing salary, a $10 million payment to the family of the deceased in the event of death of a medical practitioner, separate from any insurance coverage, and a lumpsum payment if a health worker contracts the virus.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has raised questions about the sincerity of some supporters of hunger-striker Wayne Kublalsingh about their concerns when the mangrove was cleared to make way for MovieTowne, Westmoorings and Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

Speaking at the Oropouche West constituency Divali celebrations on Tuesday night, Ramlogan said he noticed people from Bayshore and Westmoorings protesting against the segment of the highway at Debe to Mon Desir outside the St Clair Medical Centre on Sunday as Kublalsingh was being treated. He said: “Wrightson Road area was mangrove and swamp. Is it that we should never have developed Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain and build no roads in and around those areas. 

“When MovieTowne was swamp and mangrove and they had to reclaim the land, no one in Debe or Westmoorings, no one in Port-of-Spain protested the cutting down of the hills so we could have Bayshore and MovieTowne. “No one spoke of the degradation of the environment because they understood the need for human progress.

“Our history teaches us that without some sacrifice there will be no human progress and development,” Ramlogan said, pointing out to objections during the construction of the Solomon Hochoy Highway which split the Caroni Swamp in two. “Did the Caroni Swamp die? No it is larger and better off than it was before,” he added.

Using the story of the Ramayana to underscore his point, Ramlogan said those who sought to block progress must understand the message of the Ramayana that those who sought to thwart the ambition of Lord Ram failed on the altar of prayer. He added: “Those who ask that I must bypass the court system and say that I must enter into any form of mediation, I ask the question:

“If you have lost your court matter against the State and you have been denied an injunction, not once, not twice, but three times, I must now ignore the court’s rulings, bypass the rule of law and engage in a discussion designed to produce one result and one result only, which is to give you that which the court said you are not entitled to in accordance with the laws of T&T.”

Ramlogan said to do that would be setting a precedent that every person who lost a case before the court could go on a hunger strike to get the desired outcome. He said the government would not only build the highway to Point Fortin but the highway to Diego Martin as well as the overpass in Valencia because it was a promise it made to the people who voted for it and it had a duty to fulfill that promise.

There was a notable absence of politicians on the podium at the launch of Divali Nagar 2014 on Tuesday night. The star of the function was former head of the Public Service and Police Service Commission, Kenneth Lalla, SC, 88, who was the chief guest.

A number of government ministers were present in the audience, including Works Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan, Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Trade Minister Vasant Bharath, Transport Minister and Chaguanas East MP Stephen Cadiz and Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh. But none of them spoke at the event. Last year Rambachan delivered the feature address.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was invited but did not attend, an official at the National Council on Indian Culture (NCIC), which hosts Divali Nagar, confirmed. Lalla, who held many portfolios in public life, disclosed a little known side to him in a stirring address.

He was born in 1926 in Dow Village, California, the son of indentured Indian labourer Rambagoo Lalla, who was attached to the Esperanza estate. His father taught him, in Hindi, many rules of life and this constituted his mantra along his lonely journey, he said. His parents died when he was nine and he became a child labourer, earning his own keep of 25 cents a day and paying his way through school.

A devout Hindu, he disclosed he fought for many years for his religion to be recognised and respected in T&T. This included creating an Indian newspaper, a Hindu parliament and a Hindu school. But Lalla said Indians had little or no interest in reading about their culture in the newspaper, Sandesh, and it folded.

He had proposed the establishment of a Hindu parliament for the different Hindu organisations, in which each Hindu leader could continue to rule over his “kingdom” but meet with the others in parliamentary sessions, he said. This also fell through because of a lack of interest. With the elders on the Esperanza estate, the young Lalla established a Hindu school and offered to teach English and arithmetic free to the labourers’ children but was thrown out of the organisation because of the English.

In 1966, he contested the Couva South seat after people came to him and asked him to do it. “But after one term, I discovered I was in the wrong place,” he said. Lalla commented on the rapid psychological and social changes taking place among Indians in T&T, saying Indians no longer wear Indian clothes or speak Hindi, except on special occasions, and western food, language and culture have made great inroads into Indian culture. 

Lalla said Divali has been observed for thousands of years to celebrate light over darkness but darkness still pervades everywhere. He was presented with a number of exquisite gifts from India by the NCIC and likened to a saint. Help needed for Nagar site
NCIC president Deokienanan Sharma is appealing to the Government for money to help finish the main building at the Divali Nagar site.

The incomplete building, where the Divali Nagar launch was held on Tuesday, had reached its present stage largely through the NCIC’s own efforts, he told the audience in an address. However, Sharma said, it had become increasingly difficult to fund the completion of the building. “We are asking for assistance to complete the Heritage Centre,” he said.

He said the NCIC, founded in 1964, was celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The organisation was born at a time when Indian artistes were at the lowest rung of the ladder, economically and otherwise, he said. But in 1986, Divali Nagar was established and this succeeded in putting Indian culture on the national landscape. “Indian culture could no longer be ignored,” he added.

Sharma said the NCIC was assisting Indians wherever they were settled in the world to establish their own Divali Nagars. The theme of this year’s Divali Nagar, which runs for nine nights, is Shiva, a primary form of god in Hinduism. He has many aspects, including being both benevolent and a great destroyer. The NCIC, for the first time, had its own theme song, created by sitarist and composer Mungal Patassar.

Tobago was thrown into panic mode yesterday after word had spread that a Liberian vessel had docked at the Scarborough port and the occupants were sightseeing in the capital. However, it proved to be a false alarm due to a misunderstanding in a radio communication between the port and T&T Coast Guard officials.

The T&T Guardian understands that the mix-up occurred when a formal request was made by the vessel Alley Cat, which had a three-man crew, to come ashore. An employee attached to the Port Authority in Scarborough, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the request was transmitted via wireless radio to the Coast Guard around 9 am. It is alleged that the Coast Guard officers misheard the origin of the ship as Liberia when it was in fact Bulgaria. 

Around 11 am the crew was allowed to dock at the Coast Guard base but were then not allowed to disembark the vessel. Instead, they were told officials from the Tobago Regional Health Authority and the Tobago House of Assembly had to clear them to ensure they showed no signs of Ebola. The source said no THA official eventually made that trip as the issue was sorted out by the Coast Guard and the crew was allowed to disembarks around 3 pm. 

The port employee said the experience caused some level of hysteria on the port as they have not yet been trained to deal with the virus "I cannot understand how they expect us to deal with Ebola and we are not trained to do so.  “Before everything was sorted out they wanted us to go on board but we refused because we have no gears or anything to protect ourselves at all so we are all panicking," the source said. The port worker said there was also no set protocol when it came to yachties, since some of them would also dock and disembark their vessels without making a request to do so. "I am calling on the authorities to take this Ebola thing seriously. This was just a scare and it is clear we are in no way, form or fashion prepared to deal with this deadly virus and we need to get our acts together because the first cruise ship is expected to call on November 2," the worker added.

The situation developed even as the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) met to make its own plans to deal with the virus. A release said the two-hour meeting, which was chaired by THA Chief Secretary Orville London at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex, was attended by senior representatives of the Customs and Excise Division, Immigration, police, Port Authority, Airports Authority, Health Division and the Tobago Emergency Management Authority. At the meeting London urged Tobagonians not to panic and said public education about the disease and its precautions was essential.

T&T yesterday joined some other Caricom states in implementing an immediate ban on visitors from African countries with the Ebola virus. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan made the announcement during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. He said the Cabinet “had a long deliberation, and it came to the decision that with immediate effect, any person from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Nigeria will not be allowed entry into T&T. “Any person who has visited those countries within a six-week period will also be prohibited.”

Any citizen of T&T “who has visited those countries for the last six weeks will be subjected to an initial quarantine period of 21 days in the first instance,” he added. There would be no restrictions on US citizens visiting T&T, he added. Khan also said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had banned all ministers and government officials from travelling to Ebola-affected areas or travelling to those countries. Cabinet also agreed to establish the Ebola Prevention and Response Team, which will co-ordinate and manage all types of Ebola-related activities and develop a strategic plan, Khan said. Acting Chief of Defence Staff Brig Gen Anthony Phillips-Spencer will head that unit. He said that team would also discuss whether Carnival 2015 should be postponed or cancelled, and on the basis of its advice, the Cabinet will then decide.

A medical management team is to be set up if any case of Ebola is discovered in the country. Khan said there were no suspected or confirmed cases to date. He said President Anthony Carmona has to issue a proclamation deeming the Ebola virus a dangerous infectious disease to allow the Government to implement the required measures. The governments of St Vincent, St Kitts, St Lucia took similar action earlier this week. Grenada is contemplating similar action while Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has banned all travel by her officials to those countries. 

Equipment, isolation unit to come
The minister also said the Government was spending millions to procure special personal protective equipment for use by medical professionals to treat citizens who may contract the virus. 
The equipment includes head and face covers, goggles, face shields, trunk and abdomen aprons, rubber boots and shoe covers. He said most of that equipment was available at Nipdec and had been delivered to health centres and county medical officers of health offices across the country.

Khan said hazardous material suits, which offer more protection, were to be acquired. The Government was also setting up an Ebola isolation unit at Caura Hospital, he added. “It is specific for the isolation of Ebola and removal of hazardous waste and treatment of Ebola patients,“ Khan added. He said the unit would cost $3 million (US$500,000) and the suits $20,00 each. Khan dismissed a demand by Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke that workers who might be required to treat Ebola victims should be given $10 million insurance. He said that demand was unfair. “That is bordering on ridiculous,” he added. He said the Government was committed to do all it could to ensure that Ebola did not kill anybody in this country.
 

Providing more compensation for health care workers in light of the Ebola threat is not high on the agenda of the government. Rather, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan says Government is focusing all efforts to improve safety procedures in case the virus found its way to T&T’s shores. Responding to questions about calls for improved remuneration for health care staff, Khan said: “Right now we are concerned with procedures for safety. Compensation will be done at an appropriate time.” 

However, public relations officer of the Medical Association of T&T Dr Austin Trinidade said it was unfortunate that some people were trying to make money out of the perceived Ebola threat.   
“You cannot start to make a profit out of a perceived emergency. That is absolute nonsense and I am very upset about it,” Trinidade said. He said anyone who went into the medical field understood the risks involved. “To ask for extra pay and insurance is to cash in on serious situation. That is not the ethics that health workers should follow. “All of us face the risks of all kinds of diseases. Ebola is an extreme case but when you become a health worker you understand what is involved and there is an ethical principle by which we work. “We cannot be paid extra because of added risks. If it is a problem to work with these risks then you should not become a health worker. You cannot make money out of Ebola. Nowhere in the world is this happening.” he added.

Asked if enough was being done to allay the fears of health workers, Trinidad said it was important to educate them about the need for proper safety precautions. He said quarantine facilities also would assist to decrease the spread of the virus. 

We not pushing $$ over life—Duke
President of the Public Service Association Watson Duke has called on Government to quadruple the salaries of all workers exposed to Ebola risks as well as provide a $10 million insurance for them. Asked yesterday whether he had any meetings to discuss that, Duke said: “We are not pushing money over life. The major matter is if there is an Ebola outbreak they must provide the equipment, appropriate training and all the necessary prerequisites for proper screening.” He said specialists should be brought to T&T to train health workers, adding he was not satisfied with the strategies the Government had initiated to date. He said classes should be held for all health care workers.

However, Chief Medical Officer Dr Colin Furlonge who was part of a team which went to Nebraska, USA, for training on Ebola, said calls for increased renumeration was being discussed at the highest levels. “We are in the process of looking at this. We have also been in discussion with other treatment centres in other parts of the world and we have guidelines which we will follow,” he added.

The National Operations Centre (NOC) has dismissed rumours two vessels originating from Africa with an Ebola-infected crew members were anchored in T&T territorial waters yesterday. In a press release issued late yesterday evening NOC executive director Garvin Heerah described the rumours, which had been circulating for most of yesterday, as “entirely false.” “The NOC would like to ask the public to desist from sensationalising false information over this highly charged issue and to rely on the authorities for information on any related matters,” Heerah said. 

He also sought to assure the public that the Ministry of Heath had already instituted strict protocols and procedures to protect members of the public from exposure to the virus. Immigration and Customs sources alerted this newspaper to a vessel originating from Ebola-ravaged West Africa, which was anchored near to the Anchorage Beach Club yesterday afternoon. A second vessel originating from South Africa, which was anchored near the Scarborough Port also caused a scare in Tobago before the officials cleared it.  

Sources said staff of both agencies stationed at sub-offices at the Crews Inn marina expressed fear over possible exposure which may be carried by crew members. One of the crew members was expected to meet with the vessel’s local representative at the offices yesterday afternoon to seek approval from both agencies to allow the crew to disembark. 

However, the meeting did not take place up to late yesterday. The T&T Guardian was informed that the vessel’s manifest indicated that the research vessel had visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on September 13 and Ghana on September 25 before making the trans-Atlantic journey to the Caribbean.  While the DRC is not listed in the five West African countries that has been hit with this year’s Ebola outbreak, that country has still recorded over 68 cases which have led to 49 deaths.  

Thousands of citizens in central, east and northwest Trinidad were plunged into darkness last night because of “unrelated incidents” at generation facilities operated by Trinity Power in Point Lisas and Power Gen, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. This was according to an advisory issued by T&TEC.

Director at the National Operations Centre, Garvin Heerah said the police and Defence Force were on alert and was prepared to provide any assistance required. General manager at T&TEC Kelvin Ramsook told the T&T Guardian that the problem was expected to be rectified by 9 pm last night.

Among the areas affected were St James, Diego Martin, Westmoorings, Maraval and Chaguaramas in the north west, Sangre Grande in east Trinidad and Endeavour and Waterloo, in Chaguanas.
T&TEC said the incidents “caused a significant reduction in the bulk power available for use on T&TEC’s transmission grid.”

Power was restored in Port of Spain shortly before 8 pm but areas west of Mucurapo, as well as some parts of central and east Trinidad remained in darkness up to press time. 

A community nurse at the Queen’s Park Counselling Centre and Clinic, Port-of-Spain, says T&T is not ready to deal with the Ebola virus despite assurances from Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan.
In an interview, Jason Augustus said the medical fraternity was panicked about the possible spread of Ebola. He said although an Ebola response unit had been set up, the Government had not yet organised staff for the containment units at the Caura District Hospital and the Piarco International Airport. 

A four-bed isolation unit at Caura was announced at a post-Cabinet media briefing two weeks ago but Augustus said it was still unclear who would be stationed at the centres. “I have been speaking to nurses and many of them are saying that there is no team in place as yet to handle this situation. The protocols are still being established and finding the staff to actually work there will be the most challenging thing that Government will have to do,” Augustus predicted. 

In the meantime, he said nurses and other health care workers were being educated about the spread of Ebola and how easily it could be spread. Asked whether a special incinerator had been set up to deal with Ebola-related waste, Augustus said no. On concerns over whether Ebola-contaminated clothes and other waste could be transported for incineration or disposed of in the same area, Augustus said the existing hospital incinerator could be used and ruled out possible dangers from transporting hazardous waste. “We are trained in this field and we believe that transporting the waste will not present a  problem once proper procedures are followed,” Augustus said. 
Yes to $10m insurance

Augustus commended the proposal made by PSA president Watson Duke that the State should put in place a $10 million insurance policy for health care workers who might be exposed to Ebola.
“If we have to deal with an Ebola patient, we have to be kept in isolation. It means we will have to stay away from our families for more than 21 days. We will be unable to engage in public transportation. “Our pets may be put to sleep as has happened with the Chile nurse who contacted the disease. We may die if proper procedures are not followed,” Augustus said. He added that additional compensation was warranted and anyone who thought otherwise was not being fair to health care workers.

Crew members on board the MV Ocean Discovery, which arrived in Chaguaramas on Thursday from Ebola-raved west Africa, have been cleared to come ashore by doctors attached to the Health Ministry. This was the word from Health Minister Fuad Khan last night as he tried to allay fears by fishermen in the region and members of the public that there are no vessels in T&T territorial waters carrying Ebola-infected crew members.

“The doctors have decided that they are eligible to enter the country because they have already spent more than 21 days since they left Africa,” Khan said. Chaguaramas fishermen were yesterday suspicious of the crew members aboard the ship, which arrived here after two stops at ports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Ghana. “We not going near there. Them people have Ebola, we don’t want to die,” one fisherman at a depot near the Crews Inn marina said. 

When a news team from the T&T Guardian visited the area seeking to charter a fishing boat to have a closer look at the ship, only one of the dozen fishermen present was willing to take the job offer. Even then, as soon as the vessel came into sight on the boat trip, he quickly expressed strong reservations about going further. “Allyuh really want to go so near to it? I ent feel that make sense,” he said.  

He reluctantly agreed after reporters explained that the virus could only be transmitted through bodily fluids. When the boat approached closer, seven crew members were seen walking around the ship’s upper deck. Although it was difficult to communicate because of the distance and size difference between the ship and the fisherman’s pirogue, the crew members, who said they were from Scotland, said they had recently visited Africa. 

With a broad smile, a bareback crew member flexed his biceps and shouted across the water that he was not infected with Ebola. Before reporters could ask the purpose of their visit and if the crew was planning to come ashore, Port Authority personnel patrolling in the area intervened to say the mission should be immediately abandoned.  

The T&T Government’s decision to impose a ban on nationals of Nigeria and other west African countries because of the Ebola outbreak could damage its oil and gas relationship with that part of the world, Anthony Paul, managing director at Association of Caribbean Energy Specialists (ACES), warned yesterday. Paul, a senior consultant in the local energy sector, said the decision would affect an already volatile relationship between the governments.

“We have not managed the relationship well at the government-to-government level. If you looked at what happened in Ghana, there was a deal that was supposed to be signed and it did not come off for all kinds of reasons,” he said in reaction to Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan’s announcement on Thursday that people coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Nigeria would be denied entry to T&T due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

He added: “West Africa is suffering and to add more suffering does not help. I went to Liberia about two years ago and I was working on a project there. In July, I was working on a Liberian project with Liberians in the United States. Part of my proposal was for them to come to Trinidad. Now they cannot. 

“All businesses with Africa are being affected but the worst hit is energy as that is the biggest relationship T&T has with Africa now.” 

T&T nationals affected too
Paul said there were also dozens of T&T nationals working in Nigeria and their livelihood could be affected. “I was in Nigeria and Ghana not too long ago. I was also in South Africa recently and they pulled me aside and asked if I was in west Africa. 

“There are many Trinis working in west Africa, in areas like Nigeria and Liberia, in oil and gas. Some actually live in Nigeria and rotate in and out of Africa every four weeks or so. My company is doing a project with a Nigerian group and we had a meeting in London two weeks ago with them,” Paul said.

He said he was recently involved in getting an opportunity for 60 Nigerian students to come here to study at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and the measures taken by the Government would affect that arrangement “Everything was put in place then, put on hold in July and August, because of the Ebola outbreak. That means millions of dollars that must be spent on hotel and accommodation because these students are being held up in Nigeria. 

“It is the state government in that part of Nigeria that will have to pay for that. There are also 90 Nigerian students going to Tobago because of this programme. The Barbadians have put in place protocols to allow them to come in. What worries me about the T&T response is it is just a broad brush,” he added. He said Nigeria had been Ebola free for more than 42 days so the measures taken by the Government “do not seem to make sense.”

“If you are a Liberian living in the United States and you have not been to Liberia in ten years, then you still are not allowed into T&T. “What worries me is the lack of protocols. I am all for managing the country’s economy and its health and prevention but you cannot do it to people who have no cause to be excluded. We need to do it but in a more targeted way,” Paul added.

Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove has cancelled its planned visit to Nigeria because of issues with Boko Haram and the growing threat of Ebola. Yesterday the band’s manager, Errol Skerritt, confirmed that development. Skerritt said: “As the reigning National Panorama champion Phase II was nominated to return to Abuja, Nigeria’s second city. Last year, we went there at mid-November, our visit coinciding with that state’s carnival. I imagine that this year it would have been the same time.”

But Skerritt said when the Boko Haram atrocities began the T&T High Commission in Nigeria warned the band that the situation was volatile and it should no longer come and since then the tour had seemed unlikely. Boko Haram is a militant Islamic extremist group which has been labelled a terrorist organisation by the US and which abducted over 200 schoolgirls in April. The recent outbreak of Ebola in west Africa created another problem.

Skerritt said: “When Ebola emerged, though it started off in west Africa, it didn’t get to Nigeria initially. “When you mix the Boko Haram and Ebola factors together, it has been an imperative that this tour will not come off. “Initially, there was talk of an alternative tour somewhere else in Nigeria but the sponsor—Chrome Group Company—physically located in Abuja. I knew they would not be interested in an alternative part of Nigeria.”

He also expressed concern about the possible cancellation of Carnival 2015 because of the threat of Ebola. He said: “At this time of the year we are usually going through the process of ordering instruments. Right now Boogsie (the band’s arranger and composer, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe) has about ten songs to pick one; the last one is usually the best one. Just yesterday, Thursday, he made a new one and was saying it sounds like ‘the one.’

“We also have to contend with the talk making the rounds that Carnival will be cancelled next year. We don’t want to spend too much money up front and then there is no Carnival. We have to be mindful that the lead-up time to Carnival is short, so we are walking a very thin line as far as preparations are concerned.” 

Amid concerns about the spread of Ebola to the Caribbean, there is the growing fear that the virus could enter the region through its sea ports, via cruise ships. Belize yesterday refused entry to a cruise ship carrying an unnamed Texas hospital worker who may have handled Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s specimen. Two nurses who cared for Duncan tested positive for Ebola. The Belize Coast Guard did not let the vessel or any of its thousands of passengers into port.

“The government of Belize was contacted today by officers of the US Government and made aware of a cruise ship passenger considered of very low risk for Ebola,” the government of Belize said on Thursday in a statement. “Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, the Government of Belize decided not to facilitate a US request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Phillip Goldson International Airport.”

The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital employee and a partner boarded the ship on October 12 in Galveston, Texas, before the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention updated the requirement for active monitoring, the State Department said in a statement. “It has been 19 days since the passenger may have processed” Duncan’s fluid samples, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement yesterday. 

“The cruise line has actively supported CDC’s efforts to speak with the individual, whom the cruise ship’s medical doctor has monitored and confirmed was in good health. Following this examination, the hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin.” Authorities had earlier said the health worker was “quarantined.” The Carnival cruise ship was also denied entry into Mexico, according to a Carnival spokeswoman. 

The ship yesterday headed back to the US after Mexican authorities failed to grant it permission to dock off the coast of Cozumel. A Mexican port authority official said the ship was denied clearance to avoid any possible risk from Ebola. The Carnival Magic had been waiting off the Mexican coast since yesterday morning for its scheduled port visit. Mexican authorities still had not given clearance by noon, so the ship continued to its home port of Galveston, Texas.

The health worker, a lab supervisor who has not been named, has shown no symptoms of the disease but remains on board and in voluntary isolation, according to Carnival. “We greatly regret that this situation, which was completely beyond our control, precluded the ship from making its scheduled visit to Cozumel and the resulting disappointment it has caused our guests,” read a statement from Carnival. The Carnival Magic is run by Carnival Corp unit Carnival Cruise Lines.

        — Reuters, National Post