Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has been discharged from the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) and he said he is already back on the job.

Ramsammy said that while some heart-related tests were conducted, his collapse at work on Tuesday was not as a result of his pre-existing cardiac condition. He was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and later transferred to CHI  because, according to him, there was no space at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

He did not go into details, except to say that hard work in agricultural communities had resulted in unpunctual mealtimes and dehydration.

Recognized across the Caribbean and internationally for his tireless battle against HIV and AIDS while he had been Guyana’s Health Minister, Ramsammy was assigned the agriculture portfolio following the November 2011 general and regional elections.

Critics, however, point fingers at evidence that had been tendered in a New York court showing that he had authorized the purchase of sophisticated mobile phone tracking and eavesdropping equipment.

That equipment had ended up in the hands of now convicted drug kingpin, Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan who has been jailed in the United States for cocaine trafficking.

Ramsammy has denied involvement in the acquisition of the equipment.