Environmentalist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh has refused rehydration treatment from his doctor even as she described his condition as “critical” yesterday. He has been on a hunger strike for the past nine days and intends to continue until he receives a response from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on a new proposed route for the Debe to Mon Desir section of the $7.5 billion Solomon Hochoy Highway extension.
Kublalsingh’s doctor, Asante Charles-Le Blanc, visited him yesterday to check his vital signs as he continued his strike opposite the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. While Kublalsingh’s vital signs appeared to be stable, Charles-Le Blanc said his condition was critical. She checked his blood pressure and monitored his heart rate but when she suggested rehydration in the form of drips, Kublalsingh refused. “I have to abide by his decision,” she told the media.
Kublalsingh also was visited yesterday by veteran masman Peter Minshall, Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah, former gender affairs minister Verna St Rose-Greaves and Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union president general Ancel Roget. Minshall, who was among a group of concerned citizens who wrote to the PM on the matter recently, recalled one of his past mas creations of “Man Crab” and the “Washerwoman”.
He said “Man Crab” represented man’s greed for money and material things, adding that it likely resided in the direction of the Prime Minister’s Office. St Rose-Greaves said only that “the time for talk was done.” Roget, who spent a significant amount of time lending support to Kublalsingh during his first 21-day hunger strike in 2012, said he had explored the new route proposed by Kublalsingh’s Highway Re-Route Movement on Wednesday.
He said the OWTU endorsed the route as a viable alternative to the Government’s route for the highway. Kublalsingh said he would be resting at home over the weekend and despite concerns about his health would return to the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday.