The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) was a scene of confusion shortly after 11:00 hours yesterday when more than 30 disoriented students of Urmilla’s Institute, on the East Coast of Demerara, were rushed there for medical attention.

The children, ranging in ages from four to fifteen years, accompanied by their teachers, parents, and other relatives, crowded the hospital canopy near the emergency unit entrance as they desperately sought assistance.
The scene drew attention from scores of curious people in proximity to the hospital.
According to the Head Teacher of the private institution, Urmilla Persaud, several of the students started fainting soon after they became exposed to a noxious substance which was reportedly fired off by police officers.

Reports are that police, attempting to dissuade a group of protestors on the Mon Repos Public Road, dispersed tear gas which engulfed the atmosphere, severely affecting several of the children.
According to a senior police official, scores of persons congregated at the Mon Repos Public Road in the vicinity of Market Road, behaving in a raucous manner.
The police ranks noted that the evidently outraged residents started hurling dozens of glass bottles at vehicles passing on the road, and the police were forced to discharge two canisters of tear gas in an effort to protect public and private property as well as prevent injury to innocent passersby.
He added that they had to maintain a presence, given that there was an imminent threat that persons would have blockaded the roadway for a third day.
The residents, however, deny throwing the bottles at persons or vehicles; rather, they were throwing it onto the roadway.
One of the empty canisters that contained the noxious gas was seen in the school yard, but the official denied shooting it into the yard; rather, it was shot onto the thoroughfare.
Persaud told Kaieteur News that the children “just started blacking out” when they inhaled the substance.
Upon observing the reaction of the young children, the teacher said, ‘a mad dash’ was made to have the children transported to the public hospital.
According to one parent, when they arrived at the hospital they were informed by an official that nothing could be done for the children but they (teachers and parents) should apply warm water to the children’s skin. They were also advised to allow the children to ingest some water.
The process of providing the children with water was immediately engaged, and while appearing to gain some level of relief, others expelled the water as they tossed and turned in discomfort.
More people then started to converge at the scene to catch a glimpse of the children, some of whom were teary-eyed, trembling, or simply appeared to be sleeping, a disposition which caused the most fear that something dreadful would happen.
GPHC’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Khan, in an invited comment, gave assurances that everything possible was being done to ensure that each of the children was properly treated, even as he expressed optimism that the children would be alright.
Khan divulged that medical officials were providing the children with the standard treatment, adding that nothing else could be done.
But, according to the owner of the school, who identified himself as J. Persaud, called Teddy, the situation should have never reached to a stage where the children were affected.
He pointed out that he had earlier observed police officers threatening to employ tear gas in the area to deter protesters.
The man said that he had advised the officers that their intended course of action would not be wise since a school was just a few yards away.
Disregarding his advice, Teddy recounted, the officers fired off the tear gas in every direction, eventually affecting the children as well as scores of others in the Mon Repos Market at the time.
“I tell you, if something wrong to anyone of these children, the police gon pay…,” the visibly enraged Teddy warned.
The mother of one of the students said that she was in the market when she, too, inhaled the nauseating gas. The woman said that she also heard persons expressing concern that the children at the nearby school were terribly affected.
The woman said that she rushed back to the school, only to see the children “dropping down.”
Overwhelmed with concerns for her daughter who suffers from asthma, the woman said, she frantically commenced a search for her daughter, whom she found in a nervous state, as were several of the other children who were rushed to the hospital.
The children were treated a few at a time, and six who appeared to have been most exposed to the gas received oxygen.
When Kaieteur News visited the school yesterday following the incident, some of the children who had sought medical attention were still traumatised and were seen trying to comfort each other.
One girl was shaking while others tried their best to console her. The operators of the school noted that the school will remain closed until the situation on the East Coast of Demerara calms.
As news of the incident spread, a school in proximity, namely Apex Academy, immediately closed for the day, and parents were called in to retrieve their children.
Some of the parents that Kaieteur News spoke with have already indicated that they will not be sending their children to school until there is some semblance of calm on the East Coast of Demerara.
The situation also drew the attention of  the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission, Bishop Juan Edghill, and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Mr Hydar Ally.
The latter official said that the Ministry is very concerned about the ordeal the children were made to endure, and revealed that the Ministry would be rendering assistance in the form of transportation to take the children home.
Meanwhile, several residents from the affected East Coast village said that the action of the police has only served to intensify the tension which mounted on the East Coast of Demerara following the Saturday morning shooting deaths of 11 persons at Lusignan.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008