NGOs should not expose government to such embarrassing situations

IT was with obvious surprise that I read the articles in the local newspapers about Guyanese children who went for treatment in India and were denied permission to leave because their medical bills were not paid. The refreshing part of the news item was that the Government has decided to pay this bill to ensure that its citizens are released from their now prison-like bondage and returned to their homeland to recover in an environment that is stress-free.

One can understand the apparent upset of the government that proper arrangements were not made to ensure that those children and their guardians would not have been subjected to such upsetting and unwarranted treatment.

It is hoped that in the future all persons accessing help from international organisations and local Non- Governmental Organisations verify with those persons in charge that there has been proper arrangements made to both accommodate them and finance the required medical procedures.

I commend the President for instructing the Ministry of Health to ensure that there is no recurrence of this incident. It should be remembered that our Government paid out $93M last year under similar circumstances.

I also urge NGOs not to expose Guyanese to such embarrassing situations in the future.
CONSTANCE GONZALES

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