Demonstration prompts action to restore Casuarina Drive, Mackenzie
TENDERS were put out, from yesterday, for rehabilitative work to be done on the problematic Casuarina Drive, in Watooka, Mackenzie, the main road to the Linden Hospital Complex. It happened following strong demonstrative action by nursing personnel, other hospital staff and hire car operators on Monday.
An announcement also said that immediate steps will be taken to clear and dig the drains on both sides of the roadway to ensure that water does not accumulate, causing further deterioration of it, especially in front of the health facility.
The sum of approximately $13M was allocated for repairs to Casuarina Drive in this year’s national budget and BOSAI Minerals Inc has also pledged another $5M, along with machinery assistance to make sure the road is repaired.
On Monday, for several hours, the nursing staff and others attached to the hospital were off the job expressing their annoyance at the situation regarding the road in front which has become a pool, forcing patients and other members of the public to navigate through water and sand to secure medial attention.
Some of the protesters on Monday shouted ‘Enough is Enough’  and vowed to protest until something is done.
They lamented that the hospital was described as being a state-of-the-art clinic while the route to reach it poses problems.

TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE
One nurse remarked: “You now know how many pairs of shoes we broke up just by trudging through this slush and the thing is, some taxis dropping you off in front the old hospital and you have to walk through it with white shoes. This is totally unacceptable.”
The poor conditions continue to pose difficulties for those who must visit the institution and it has been several months now that the road condition has caused concern.
Another hospital staffer declared: “We are sick and tired of this road. We will continue to do this…protest until this road is done to our satisfaction.”
Sometimes, persons wanting to visit the sick find themselves in the muddy water, fall into it and have to find a change of clothing before they can enter the hospital.
One female security guard was such a victim while on duty there.
Apart from Casuarina Drive being the main path to the Linden Hospital Complex, it leads to other communities, such as Fairs Rust, Richmond Hill, Ituni and Kwakwani that can be accessed only through it.
At a recent meeting of stakeholders, BOSAI Minerals (Guyana), which operates the Linden bauxite operations,  made the commitment to help fund the restoration of Casuarina Drive and indicated its willingness to erect overhead barriers to prevent large vehicles, especially logging and container trucks, from using the road which is also utilised by schoolchildren of the primary Watooka Day School.