Workers attacked by gunmen in Agricola

 
…while dumping expired drugs in Health Centre’s compound

Ministry of Health contract workers who were dumping boxes of expired drugs in the Agricola, East Bank Demerara health centre’s compound yesterday, came under attack by a group of men, some of whom had guns.

The Agricola Health Centre.

When Kaieteur News arrived at the facility around 15:20hrs yesterday, four workers attached to the Ministry were seen dumping boxes of expired medication in the aforesaid compound.
Two of the workers were taking the drugs out of a Ministry of Health (MOH) truck while the other two collected and dumped it.
Some of the medication, seen by this newspaper, had expired since 2010.
“We got children going to the health centre. Tomorrow (today) is clinic for babies and they have those drugs there. Some of the bottles burst and the liquid leaking out,” one resident said.
Asked why they (contract workers) were dumping the medication at the centre, one of the workers from the truck said, “Listen, we only working with instructions from the Ministry of Health, when we finish here, we done… call Bheri ( the Minister).”
Some angry residents got into a heated argument with the persons dumping the medication into the centre’s compound and one of the residents suggested to the others to call the “Hot Skull gang.”
After a few minutes of arguing between the MOH contract workers and the residents, a

A bottle of tablets that was in the pile of dumped medication.

group of men arrived with their faces covered with their jerseys; some came on bicycles and some on foot.
Four of the gang members jumped on the truck and attacked the two workers who were on it. The other two workers stayed in the centre’s compound.
At least two of the persons who came had guns tucked in their pants.
Residents were heard telling each other, “they gone kill them right there” and they shouted, “Y’all stop now, y’all stop now.”
Women dressed like nurses came out the health centre and talked with the armed individuals who eventually left, after which one of the MOH contract workers who was on the truck was heard telling the residents, “Y’all only promoting violence.”
Minister of Health, Bheri Ramsaran when contacted said that his Ministry had instructed the Director of Regional Health Services (DRHS) to get rid of the drugs in a safe matter.
“I was told that the drugs were supposed to be stored in a vacant upper flat at the centre, and it is very bad if they were dumped just like that in front of the centre. The DRHS instructed them to store the drugs in a safe manner, but her good intentions backfired,” Ramsaran said.

Workers dumping the expired drugs.

He further explained that if the Health Ministry wanted to dump expired drugs then they wouldn’t leave Georgetown to go up the East Bank. He promised to launch an investigation.