Five more Manganese workers air-dashed to Georgetown

Five more persons were on Monday afternoon air-dashed from Region One to the Georgetown Public Hospital, reportedly with symptoms similar to those which left one employee of the Guyana Manganese Inc. dead and seven others hospitalised at the weekend. 

The men were transported to the Ogle airport by a Roraima Airways aircraft just after 15:00hrs where they were then transported to the hospital for medical attention.

On Saturday, an employee of the company died at a health institution in the region while seven of his colleagues were rushed GPHC.

The first set of patients displayed symptoms including pain, fever, headache and respiratory distress.

While the state media likened the symptoms to that of Dengue Fever, the Ministry in a statement on Saturday evening said there is no determination as yet of what the ailment is.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Shamdeo Persaud was quoted as saying it is a “respiratory ailment” but test results are being awaited to determine the exact diagnosis.

The deceased worker was ailing for days before seeking medical attention at the Matthews Ridge Hospital last Thursday, the statement disclosed. He died Saturday.

His body was slated to be airlifted to the capital late Monday.

The statement clarified that neither the deceased nor those currently hospitalised had travelled overseas recently.

A team of officials including a Pathologist, a Senior Environmental Health Officer; a mortuary attendant, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and medical specialists were slated to visit the manganese mining site on Sunday.

Director-General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Kester Craig has since activated a National Emergency Operations Centre to bring all the key stakeholders together to ensure there is a Common Operating Picture (COP).

Several attempts were made by News Room Monday to contact the Chief Medical Officer but efforts proved futile.

The Minister of Health Volda Lawrence referred all questions to her technical staff, but none of them, including the Chief Medical Officer, could be reached for comment.