-AG says facility is unlicensed, a potential health hazard

THE Lyken/Newburg Funeral Home contract with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was terminated because of several health protocol breaches and the failure to operate in keeping with health standards specified for funeral parlors.
This is according to Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., who, on Tuesday, responded to a June 29, 2021, letter penned by Khemraj Ramjattan on behalf of the well-known funeral home.
The owners, Dr. Dawn Stewart-Lyken and Gordon Lyken have threatened to take legal action against the state over what it claims was the sudden termination of its contract due to discrimination.

The AG in response rejected the company’s accusation of discrimination, emphasising that it was not singled out for any “special or discriminatory treatment” and that the requirements which were imposed upon the business were also levied upon all funeral home operators.
“You (Ramjattan) are aware that the sector in which your client operates is one that can easily constitute a public health hazard if not scrupulously managed and conducted. You will agree with me that the Public Health Ordinance which encompasses the main regulatory network of this sector, as well as the nation’s public health apparatus, is completely archaic and out of sync with current modern realities. The COVID-19 global pandemic has made this excruciatingly clear,” the AG said in his letter to Ramjattan.

The AG said that on December 14, 2011, at a meeting of the Central Board of Health, a decision was taken to have all funeral homes inspected and duly licensed with the payment of an annual licensing fee of $20,000.
This decision was made the subject of regulations duly promulgated under the Public Health Ordinance where each funeral home was issued with a notification of this decision and was thereof informed to make formal applications for issuance of that licence.
“Significantly, every other operator in the sector complied with this request except your client’s. Interestingly, for the first year an application form was received from your client completely filled out with supporting documentation signed by Gordon Lyken. For your client to now allege that this licensing requirement and the fees payable in relation thereto are new impositions is simply ingenious,” the AG said.

He further added that health inspectors, in the routine discharge of their statutory duties under the Public Health Ordinance, would carry out inspections at periodic intervals of the premises of operators in this sector, as well as, other sectors.
However, in 2019 during one of these inspections, in respect of a complaint received, it was drawn to the company’s attention that an “odious stench” emanated from their operations specifically from the refrigeration unit which accommodated the decomposed bodies.
The AG disclosed that via a letter dated June 27, 2019, the company was notified by the Central Board of Health of this strong odour, the unlicensed state of the facility coupled with a recommendation that corrective measures be taken to address the fundamental public health issues that arose therefrom.
Additionally, the said letter was copied to then Director-General Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence; Minister of Social Protection, Minister of Public Security, Commissioner of Police, Director of Environmental Protection Agency and Mayor and City Council.

Despite the warning, the company failed to address the Health Board recommendations which would have possibly resulted in a “public health hazard to which thousands of Guyanese are exposed.”
According to the AG, the company never denied the toxic nature of their operations nor the hazardous state of their premises while they had always sought more time to address the concerns. To corroborate this, the AG cited a letter dated January 21, 2021, in which the company’s director, Gordon Lyken, informed the Secretary of Central Board of Health, Juanita Johnson, that a separate facility to store decomposing human remains is being constructed at the funeral home and that the facility was about 90 per cent completed. He requested some three months for its completion, however, the company failed to honour this commitment.
“The decision arrived at by the Central Board of Health was neither capricious nor whimsical. This drastic but necessary decision was taken in a global public health pandemic and in the public’s best interest,” the AG said.

Moreover, two subsequent inspections were done by officers of the Environmental Health Unit and the Ministry of Health on April 30, 2021 and the other on June 24, 2021, with each resulting in a report being presented by the inspector to Johnson.
“Please be assured that we recognise your clients’ long and outstanding service in the sector, but that must subserve the public good. I am assured that once your client’s premises meet the requisite standards by which the other operators are adjudged, your client will be permitted to resume her business,” the AG said in his letter.
As it relates to the monies owed to the company by the GPF, the AG said that the Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie was advised that all outstanding liabilities should be discharged with every reasonable dispatch. The company had disclosed that the GPF owes some $35M for services offered between 2019 and 2021.