The quiet, rural village of New Grant reacted with shock yesterday after a horrific accident in Princes Town which claimed the lives of a father and his son and left two other members of the same family injured, one of them in a serious condition.

The mid-morning head-on accident involved a car and loaded ten-tonne truck in rainy weather. The accident caused traffic to back up for miles.

Fire officers who were among the first responders were so traumatised by the scene, their senior officer said they would have to seek counselling.

Police said Namdeo Harriram, 41, driving a black Toyota Altis veered head-on into a truck on its way to make a delivery to a supermarket around 10.20 am along the M1 Ring Road. His son, Lalchan, 25, who was seated behind his father, along with his father died instantly. 

Namdeo’s seven-year old daughter, Tricia, who was also seated in the back seat, suffered broken bones. 

His wife, Havanti, 40, who was in the front passenger seat, miraculously escaped with minor injuries. 

Mother and daughter, along with truck passenger Nizam Mohammed, were taken to San Fernando General Hospital, where Tricia was admitted. 

The driver of the truck, Dave Ramkissoon, was unhurt.

Namdeo’s younger son, Keshan, who arrived on the scene was too traumatised to speak to the media as he held his head in disbelief.

Police officer ASP Rohan Pardasie said preliminary reports indicate that the car was heading east “when he (the driver) encountered a skid on the wet road and collided with this motor lorry which was proceeding in the opposite direction.”

Pardasie said a relative, who was on the scene, told them Namdeo was taking his son, who recently suffered the chikungunya virus, to a doctor.

Neighbours at Daily Road, New Grant, where the family lived, remembered the father and son, “as nice people.” They said Namdeo was a safe driver.

One of Ramkissoon’s co-workers, who did not want to be identified, said he was transporting dry goods from Unilever, Champs Fleurs, to a supermarket in Princes Town when tragedy struck.

Fire officers had to use hydraulic cutting tools to remove the bodies of the two men from the mangled wreck of their vehicle.

Acting Fire Station Officer Lalchan Arjoon said while fire officers were trained to deal with those kinds of situations, they were not unaffected by the carnage.

"We are humans too,” Arjoon said, as he appealed to drivers to exercise due care and attention on the nation’s road.

“Especially when it is raining you have to adjust your driving conditions. Drivers have a personal responsibility to act safely on the roads. One life lost is too many.”

He said some of the officers who responded to that tragedy may be traumatised by what they would have seen but assured they will receive help from the Employees Assistance Programme.

ASP Pardasie is continuing investigations.

Hawantee Harriram, one of the survivors of Monday’s tragedy which claimed the life of her husband Namdeo, and son Lalchan, was discharged from the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) today.

Her daughter, Karishma, seven, remains warded nursing a broken right arm and leg.

Both mother and daughter were passengers in a car driven by Namdeo, when it skidded off the MI Ring Road and slammed into an oncoming 10 tonne truck which was transporting dry goods for a supermarket in Princes Town.

Both men died on the spot. Tentative funeral arrangements are being made for Friday. A relative said both men will be cremated at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek, La Romaine following a service at the house of morning, Daly Road, New Grant.
 

Seven-year-old Karishma Harriram is unaware that the accident which caused her to suffer a broken arm and leg also claimed the life of her father and brother, Namdeo and Lalchan Harriram.

However, her aunt Radica Rampersad, who has been at her bedside at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, said the child, sensing that something is wrong, has been constantly asking for her daddy and her brother who would have been at her side under normal circumstances.

“We have not told her that they have passed on but she has a feeling that something is wrong. 

“She is crying constantly and is asking for her father and her brother. 

“She saw her mother who was with her in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department after the accident but she has not seen her dad and brother.”

Hawantee, 45, was discharged from the hospital at 3 am on Tuesday after being treated for minor cuts and bruises.

Rampersad said Karishma, also known as Tricia, had no memory of the accident as she was taken to the district hospital at Princes Town by passers-by who witnessed the accident, before paramedics, police and fire officers arrived on the scene and used the hydraulic cutting tools, commonly referred to as the jaws of life, to remove the bodies of the two men from the wreckage.

Lalchan and Karishma were in the back seat of the vehicle, driven by Namdeo. Hawantee was in the front passenger seat. 

The brother and sister were on their way to visit a doctor in San Fernando, when tragedy struck.

“Tricia is in a lot of pain and has been asking the nurses not to give her any injections because they hurt,” her aunt said.

Member of Parliament for Princes Town Barry Padarath visited Hawantee at hospital and has offered to assist with the joint funeral arrangements which are scheduled for Friday at the family’s home in New Grant.

“I know the family well. In fact, Mrs Harriram worked closely with me during the 2015 general election as one of my polling agents. 

“This is a very humble family and I have pledged to offer them whatever support we can from the office of the MP and at the level of the Princes Town Regional Corporation.”

Padarath said Hawantee appeared to be strong emotionally but very fragile when it came to recalling the incident.

“You have to understand that in addition to being the backbone of the family, the breadwinners, Lalchan was also her first-born with whom she shared a very close relationship,” Padarath said.

Rampersad said the two would be cremated at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek, La Romaine, following a funeral service at the family’s home at Daly Road. It is not certain whether Tricia will be able to attend the funeral.

An autopsy at the mortuary at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) showed that the two men died from multiple injuries consistent with a motor vehicle accident.

ASP Rohan Pardasie confirmed the driver of the truck, Dave Ramkissoon, who is traumatised by the tragedy, is yet to be interviewed by the police. 

He said he would speak with the police Victim and Witness Support Unit to establish whether they could offer counselling to Ramkissoon and his brother, Nizam Mohammed, who was a passenger in the truck.

Shortly after 10 am on Monday, the black Toyota Corolla Altis which Namdeo, 48, was driving, skidded off the wet M1 Ring Road, Princes Town, and crashed into the loaded ten-tonne truck, going under it. 

The impact damaged the front tyre of the truck causing it to run off the opposite side of the road and land in a ditch.

Yvonne Webb and Alana Boodoo-Suraj 

Police believe speed and a wet road may have led to another fatal collision between a car and a ten-tonne truck which claimed the lives of three more people in Mayaro yesterday.

Driver Anthony Marcano, 60, of LP 1028, Pierreville, postal worker Saliesha Ali, 41, of Food Crop Road, Bristol Village, and Sherwin Constantine, 64, of Lot 4 Pierreville, Mayaro, were killed in the smash-up. 

Ali and Constantine were passengers in Marcano’s PH taxi. Another passenger, Sheronie Rampersad, of Chrysostom Trace, Mafeking Village, who was seated in the back seat, is warded in a critical condition at the Sangre Grande Hospital. 

In scenes reminiscent of Monday’s accident on the MI Ring Road, Princes Town, which claimed the lives of father and son—Namdeo and Lalchan Harriram —the car Marcano was driving also skidded off the road and crashed head-on into the truck driven by Mano Churkoo. The Jaws of Life also had to be used by the firefighters to remove Marcano and the other occupants from the mangled wreck.

According to a police report, at around 11.30 am Marcano, the driver of a red Toyota Corolla, was heading west through Bristol Village near the village cemetery. 

The car reportedly veered to the left and off the road, skidded on wet grass, then began to swerve uncontrollably on the road. He missed the first of two trucks which were proceeding east, but crashed head on into a second truck which was transporting asphalt.

The truck ended up off the road on its left side, with the front of the Toyota trapped under its enormous frame. The impact killed Marcano and two of his passengers instantly. Truck driver Churkoo, the lone occupant in his vehicle, escaped unhurt but not unscathed. Still shaken by the loss of life, Churkoo said Marcano would have been driving hard. 

“While proceeding in an easterly direction I observed the red car coming from the opposite direction. He swerved and touched his left side of the road and the car lose control. 

“It almost hit the truck in front of me. He missed that truck and I see him coming towards me. I slammed my brakes and started to skid myself and I pulled the truck as well but he collided with the front and I end up off the side of the road,” he said.

Asked about the speed at which Marcano was proceeding, Churkoo explained: “From the behaviour of the vehicle when it touched the road, it looked as though he was doing some numbers. When the tyres touched the wet grass it (the car) started to dance up and skid across the road.” 

Fresh Arrive Alive appeal 

In responding once again to the loss of lives through road accidents, president of Arrive, Alive Sharon Inglefield, yesterday appealed to the nation’s leaders to focus on preventative measures, such as speed guns, speed cameras and the point system through a revamped Motor Vehicle Authority to save lives.

She said: “Because people are just not listening. We need enforcement by technology. This system will save the carnage on the nation’s roads, just like it does in developed countries. We, therefore, need the political will to save lives urgently.”

While advocating for preventative measures, Inglefield said that did not remove the accountability from drivers, who needed to take their own safety and that of their passengers into their own hands by not speeding and by adjusting their speed to the road conditions.

She encouraged drivers, as well as both front and back seat passengers, to wear their seatbelts and for parents to ensure their children were buckled up in car seats.

Inglefield also expressed condolences to the family and friends of the victims. 

Lisa Martinez, the programme associate of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations country office in T&T and Suriname, says the world is facing a major challenge to feed its expanding population.

 Martinez said the world population stands at 7.2 billion and to nourish the additional two billion people in 2050, food production must rise by 60 per cent.  She said, however, the way food is produced must not be done at the expense of the planet. She was speaking at Tuesday’s opening ceremony of US$30 million to Improve Forest and Protected Area Management in T&T Inception Workshop at Petrotrin. The project is a venture of the Ministry of Planning and Development.

Martinez said the FAO’s mission is to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition while promoting sustainable development.

“Yet, at the same time, just four—rice, wheat, maize and potato—of the 30,000 edible plants provide 60 per cent of the world dietary energy intake.”

However, she sounded an alarm that, “these are farmed in a manner that takes a heavy toll on the environment. Products of these crops represent a significant value in the Caricom food import bill of over US$4 billion. The crucial message is the way we produce more food cannot be at the expense of the planet.”

She said the FAO has five strategic objectives of which objective two is to make agriculture, which encompasses forestry and fisheries, livestock crops and natural resources, more productive and more sustainable. 

“FAO promotes evidence-based policies and practices to support the agricultural sectors (crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries) while ensuring that the natural resource base does not suffer in the process.

“Its vision is one of a world in which food is nutritious and accessible for everyone and natural resources are managed in a way that maintains ecosystem functions to support current as well as future human needs.

“In this vision, she said, the resource users, including farmers, fisherfolk, foresters and others, are empowered to actively participate in resource decision that results in equitable benefits, decent employment conditions and jobs in a fair-price environment.”

Hawantee Harriram stood between the two simple white coffins bearing the bodies of her husband and her first-born son, yesterday, torn as to which one she should touch as she pleaded with them to wake up.

“My heart is hurting. I don’t know what to do anymore,” she cried as she touched their faces, feet, placed flowers in their coffins before clasping both hands in a position of prayer which she solemnly raised to her face still bearing a plaster as a reminder of the tragedy she survived and which took her loved ones away.

Hawantee threw a mixture of rice and flowers behind the two white hearses transporting the bodies to their final resting place at the Mosquito Creek, bemoaning, “I feel so empty.”

The touching scenes played out at the family’s Daily Trace, New Grant, home, yesterday, as the community came out to say a final farewell to Namdeo, 48, and Lalchan Harriram, 25, who died instantly when Namdeo’s motor vehicle skidded off the road and crashed into a 10-tonne lorry last Monday on the M1 Ring Road, Princes Town.

Hawantee and her seven-year-old daughter Tricia who were also in the vehicle survived the crash. However, Tricia is warded at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital with a broken arm and leg. She has not been told that her father and brother are dead.

Her mother told the Guardian, in an interview on Thursday, that breaking the news to Tricia was not something she looked forward to. 

“We haven’t told her (about the deaths). I don’t know how we are going to be able to tell her. I have to ask God to give me the strength, first to get through the funeral and then to find the strength to tell her. After we get through this, I don’t know what we will do next. God alone knows what plans he has for us,” she said.

Pundit Anil Maharaj who officiated at the service noted how difficult it was for families to deal with the loss of one member and how much more tragic it was for this wife and mother to lose her husband and first-born son.

“It is very hard for this mother to accept the loss of her husband and her son. What is even more sad is that the daughter cannot attend the ceremony and does not know what is happening here.”

He appealed to the mourners to “live a good life and to do good. Say a prayer before you leave home because when you leave you are not sure to return.”

The Harrirams were taking two of their children, Lalchan and Tricia, to the doctor when tragedy struck. 

Hawantee’s sister, former Guardian journalist Kamla Rampersad, who eulogised her brother-in-law and nephew, underscored their commitment to family life. 

She said Namdeo worked hard to find a good way to provide for his wife and family, and nine years ago he chucked in all of the other jobs to join Hawantee in selling at the farmers’ market. 

“Family life meant everything to him and working together with her meant they never had any reason to be apart.”

She said the market community and the vendors became an extension of the family, recalling when Lalchan suffered a broken leg in an accident four years before, how they rallied around her sister and brother-in-law, raising funds to help them through their difficult period.

Lalchan, she said, was also a family person and someone they could count on to do any task at hand. 

“His is the name that was called whenever something needed to be done.”

She ended her eulogy by placing both father and son in God’s hands saying that God had a reason and a purpose for everything that has happened.

Saaheehah Mohammed, a student of the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC), where Lalchan was in his final year as an electrical installation student, also remembered him as a model student and big brother to all his classmates.

She said he possessed leadership qualities, but although he was committed to his academics he never compromised his family values and stood with his fellow students, “through thick and thin.”

Lalchan’s body was taken for a brief moment to the NESC, Ste Madeleine campus, to give his colleagues an opportunity to say goodbye.

Father and son were later cremated at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek, La Romaine.

Consumers were caught by surprise yesterday as they had to fork out an extra $2 one way for taxi fare between Port-of-Spain and San Fernando.

The increase from $15 to $17 has caused division among the fraternity of taxi-drivers opposed to the fare hike caused by the increase in super fuel at the gas pump as well as loyal customers.

With some commuters vowing to now use the Public Service Transport Corporation (PTSC) service, rather than having to pay an extra $4 a day, first vice president of the North-South Taxi Drivers Association Paul Lewis said his worse fear that they would lose customers had been realised.

Lewis has been resisting the suggestion of a price increase following Finance Minister Colm Imbert announcement in the 2015/2016 Budget of a 15 per cent increase in the cost of super and diesel gas. The 15 per cent increase pushed the cost of super from $2.70 a litre to $3.11 and diesel from $1.50 a litre to $1.72. 

While some drivers felt that was an impetus to increase the fares, others like Lewis felt it was too little to substantiate between $3 and $5 increase as was first suggested. Several meetings to arrive at an amicable solution ended in chaos and Lewis said he was not invited to the last two meetings when that decision was made.

He said he had first asked his fellow taxi drivers to hold their hand for Christmas and until the government reviewed the budget in March 2016 but his suggestion gained no traction. As a compromise, he said he suggested a $1 increase but some found that was insufficient. He said unknown to him, a decision was reached between members from Chaguanas, Curepe and Port-of-Spain to impose the $2 hike.

“I had expressed the fear that we would lose customers. Port-of-Spain is more difficult to work because we are competing with the buses, maxi-taxi’s and water taxi.” He said while he did not want to be in conflict with his fellow taxi-drivers, he would observe what was taking place over the next few days and then make a decision.

United National Congress (UNC) leadership candidate Dr Roodal Moonilal told supporters that they should be prepared to go back to the polls.

He was speaking hours after the Appeal Court, in a majority ruling, found merit in the election petitions challenging the Election and Boundaries Commission’s decision to extend the voting time for Trinidad by one hour in the September 7 polls.

“We must get our house in order, so if it is you are successful at the court and there are political consequences involving an election, your party must be ready,” Moonilal said while speaking at the Carapichaima Presbyterian School on a UNC Loyalist platform.

He told his audience that while the decision opened the door for the substantive issue of challenging the EBC’s decision, they could not wait on the courthouse to give them victory in the six marginal constituencies being challenged. 

“The court in T&T will not give you the government. The people will give you the government. What ever happens at the high court, the court cannot rule that we walk over the aisle in the Parliament and take over the government. They can rule that there is a case to return to the polls, but they cannot pick up the government and give it to the UNC and say look the government is yours, take it. You have to go back to the polls.” 

Moonilal said the court ruling had vindicated his decision to challenge the incumbent Kamla Persad-Bissessar for leadership of the party because none of the other two slates were up to the challenge of going back to the polls.

“If ever you had any doubts of the need and importance to build the UNC, it is in the aftermath of the ruling today (Monday) at the Court of Appeal.”

He said which ever leader emerged victorious in Saturday’s election we will have to prepare the party to return to the polls.

“And if you have to go back to the polls, are you ready to go back to the polls with the current dispensation, ready to fight the People’s National Movement with the current leader who says she is not working with Moonilal, Vasant, Gopeesingh, Fuad Khan and Seemungal?”

He said it was interesting that they had on their slate the former Agriculture minister Jairam Seemungal, who lost the La Horquetta/Talparo seat, one of the constituencies which has been petitioned.

“If perchance the petitioner is successful, are they saying Mr Seemungal can’t go back as the candidate for La Horquetta/Talparo because they are not prepared to work with us. So who is going back? Marcia Braveboy? 

“This man has been the lion of La Horquetta/Talparo for five years. Are you now saying you don’t want him back because he is in a slate opposed to you?”

Moonilal also questioned the justification for Vasant Bharath contesting the election and alluded to him being a “spoiler” in the race to ensure that his Loyalist team lost.

He questioned why after Bharath resigned from the Senate to contest the post for leadership, there had been no replacement in the Senate.

He asked whether when he would have fulfilled his role, post December 5, he would be ushered right back into the Senate as a Senator for the UNC.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said there was a strong case that the Elections and Boundaries Commission acted illegally in the September 7 general election by extending the voting time by one hour in Trinidad and is now questioning the legitimacy of the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government.

Speaking at a Team UNC platform at Three Roads Community Centre, Freeport, on Monday night, hours after the Appeal Court ruling on the election petitions, Persad-Bissessar said the ruling was a victory and she was now placing the faith of the party in the rule of law and in the Judiciary of T&T.

“Today records a great victory for the UNC. Today...today, the Court of Appeal, the majority of the Court of Appeal, agreed that our election petitions challenging the result of the general election are valid and should be heard in the courts.”

She told supporters while there was a strong case that the EBC acted illegally, she needed their help to come forward with any information or knowledge of what transpired.

“Come forward and let your voices be heard, so that we can continue to work on your behalf to show that the EBC acted illegally, but we need your help. 

“Yes, we have some of the evidence inside but I am sure throughout the length and breadth of this country, there are those who would have suffered a similar fate, who were turned away,” she said.

As she seeks another term as leader of the United National Congress (UNC) and as an alternative to head the Government, Persad-Bissessar also questioned whether the present day Government of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was fit to be in power, given what had transpired.

“We have to question the legitimacy of the Government and from now on we must all sing from the same line, from the same words, from the same page, from the same hymn book that this Government came into office and does not have the legitimacy that a Government should have. The legitimacy of the Government is under question,” she said.

Speaking about the three court cases brought against the EBC, Persad-Bissessar said in addition to the election petitions, there was another constitutional motion filed by the people of Tobago, in which they were alleging that their rights under the Constitution were breached because there was different unequal treatment for Trinidad and different unequal treatment for Tobago.

The one-hour voting extension was applied to Trinidad only because of the inclement weather. 

There was another matter before the courts, she said, brought by right-thinking citizens to uphold the Constitution and that was known as a judicial review competition against the EBC, about its actions.

“So, the EBC is being challenged in three different actions and so we leave it there, before the courts, and in the hands of God,” she added.

Speaking about her competitors—Dr Roodal Moonilal and Vasant Bharath—in the elections, Persad-Bissessar noted that while they were challenging her leadership they were also attacking the party. 

“I remind them that our great party won over 340,000 votes. We have this battle in the UNC but we must remember that the real enemy is not the UNC but the PNM.

“It hurts me when I see lined up against me are men and women I trusted. Men and women I gave great positions to. I brought them in and they did not support me in the elections in 2010. Dr Moonilal, Dr Gopeesingh, Vasant Bharath, they campaigned on a different theme, just as they are doing today,” she said.

Persad-Bissessar said she was not worried because in spite of the challenge in 2010 she prevailed and expected a similar result come Saturday.

“Well, as God would have it, I won our party elections in 2010, she added.

The Medical Professionals Association (MPATT) is reminding Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh that any change to working hours for doctors must be decided across the negotiating table.

The reminder comes in the wake of a directive from Deyalsingh that specialist doctors (consultants) must be on-site at hospitals between 8 am and 4 pm from Monday to Friday. 

This instruction, contained in a report for immediate implementation, was circulated to all public hospitals on November 23 in an effort to prevent the deaths of pregnant women and babies following the death of Candace Santoo and her son baby Nevin. 

Santoo died at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital two Thursdays ago from excessive bleeding, which led to shock and heart failure. Her baby was stillborn.

In a statement, MPATT said it was cognisant that there were certain areas of medicine, such as obstetrics and gynaecology, where patients were at higher risk.

However, the association said, while it supported the need to review the delivery of medical care in order to reduce these risks, “arriving at best-practice outcomes require discussion, negotiation and concurrence.”

MPATT said that at a meeting with the former Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan, the position of Director—Infant Health Services was discussed, in addition to the working relationships that were required from the medical professionals in this particular area.

“Minister Deyalsingh must be reminded that the employer—the Regional Health Authority (RHA)—has not negotiated for these new arrangements and that he may have been ill-advised and misguided with respect to the recent recommendations which affect terms and conditions of employment. 

“For the avoidance of doubt, the working hours for doctors cannot be unilaterally changed where there is a recognised majority trade union (RMU). MPATT attained RMU status for doctors employed by the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) in August 2009 therefore, any change to working hours for doctors must be decided across the negotiating table,” the statement read.

With 17 days before Christmas, ArcelorMittal has sent home 600 workers with immediate effect. 

However, Christopher Henry, president of the Steel Workers Union of T&T which represents the workers said the matter would be placed in the hands of its lawyers and may be heading to court for a final outcome.

Henry addressed workers at the union’s California headquarters yesterday hours after the workers were sent home and recalled only weeks ago the Minister of Finance Colm Imbert was saying there would be no blue Christmas. 

He said ArcelorMittal not only laid off 800 contract workers earlier this year but sent home 600-plus permanent workers weeks before Christmas.

In confirming the lay-offs, the company, in a statement yesterday said it had no option, blaming the economic conditions in the global steel industry and its inability to reach an agreement with the union for its decision.

Last Friday, the company met with the union and said it was impossible for the company to keep workers on the plant over a protracted period without having work for them to perform.

A couple of weeks ago, ArcelorMittal, Point Lisas, announced that because of over-supply of steel in the international market and the drying up of orders for its Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) and steel products, it had to scale down its operations. The union claims a Canadian firm has been contracted by the company.

“The global steel industry is experiencing its worst recession in ten years, comparable to that experienced in the early ‘90s. Every steel company in the world is facing this difficult reality and ArcelorMittal Point Lisas has had no choice but to react to these changes in the industry,” it said.

The workers are being sent home with $2,000 each as compensation for December 7 to January 15, next year. The steel company said the over-supply of steel in the international market and the drying up of orders for its DRI and steel products produced at its Point Lisas plant has led to this temporary shut down of its operations.

However, Timothy Bailey, chief labour relations officer of union said while it was undeniable there was a global depression in the world market, he said he was saddened that the multinational company which made millions and billions in the 30-odd years it has been operating in T&T, as soon as they were going through a rough patch the workers, who were paid the least, were the one who got severed.

The company has been in limbo for months, saying it could not produce steel at a profitable price, even as it negotiated unsuccessfully to renew its expired contract for electricity and natural gas. 

The company was put in an idle mode and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the company and the union to have workers do alternative jobs, which were once done by contract workers and which were outside of their job description. The MOU was expected to be reviewed.

However, Bailey said that mid-stream before the scope of work and schedule of jobs outlined for the workers were exhausted, “the company moved the goal post and came to the union to draw up new proposals for the union to agree with to send workers on forced vacation for the period December to mid-January.

“We said to the company legally we did not have the powers to send any worker on forced vacation, “ Bailey added.

He said according to a clause in their collective agreement, there were certain workers who would have accumulated vacation over two periods who could have been sent on leave. 

“The company said they needed to go and check their statistics and come back to the union but this morning (yesterday) while the union was engrossed in its statutory executive meeting, the meeting was interrupted by the company which requested an emergency meeting.”

Bailey said the union members broke its meeting and immediately went across to the company where the company’s CEO, Robert Bellisle, placed two proposals on the table: One for the company to send the workers home for the month of December or the other option to lay off workers and give them $2,000 for the period December 7 to January 15.”

He said the meeting ended with no concensus but shortly after they left, workers started calling the union to inform them that the company was issuing letters effectively sending them home.

The union is calling for Prime Minister Keith Rowley and Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus to intervene.

The Ministry of Health has reportedly ceased an arrangement with a private medical facility which allowed kidney patients to get free dialysis treatment.

And as a result six critical patients who need the life-saving treatment, at least three times a week, are desperately seeking an alternative venue.

A spokesperson from Trinidad Dialysis Centre in San Fernando said the Ministry of Health External Patients Programme (EPP) effectively shut down its arrangement because of health hazards.

The majority of patients who had been seeking treatment there have been transferred to alternative centres but 10 to 12 others have not been assigned to any other centre to receive their treatment.

The company, which has been in operation for 22 years, confirmed that the Ministry of Health stopped the arrangement last Thursday.

“We do not know the real reason but the ministry has discontinued the programme almost overnight. If these patients do not dialyse by Tuesday (today) those patients could get really, really sick and by Wednesday, Thursday, they could die because those people who came to the media, they have not gotten dialysis since Thursday,” it added.

The spokeswoman said in the interest of the patients they have been liaising with the ministry, “trying to find out if they could inform us as to where they (patients) could go to get their next session and they (ministry) are telling us they don’t know, they will call the patients.

“Up to now (Monday evening) these patients are still waiting on calls from the ministry, so it is really a dire situation for them.”

The affected patients — Karon Morris Wright, Radresh Seedhan, Sumintra Soodeen, Sharon Henry, Sharon Sabessa and Bernadette Jobe — said they required dialysis three times a week. 

Dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood and is used primarily as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with kidney failure. 

Costly dialysis session

CEO of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Anil Gosine said they operated 11 dialysis chairs at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) between six to seven days a week.

He said they could not accommodate all the patients requiring that treatment so a number of them have been referred to private dialysis centres through the external patient programme of the ministry. 

Gosine said one dialysis session costs approximately $1,000 privately. 

The patients who spoke with the T&T Guardian said they each required three sessions a week which amounts to $3,000 for the period. Many of them are unemployed and can ill afford to have these sessions done privately.

Calls to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh were not answered.

Three local doctors have made medical history. 

The trio — urologist and lead surgeon Dr Lall R Sawh, general vascular surgeon Dr Steve Budhooram and Dr Peng Ewe, anesthetist and intensivist — removed an eight-pound tumour from a 52-year-old man at the Southern Medical Clinic, San Fernando, last week Wednesday. 

According to medical records, this is the largest tumour removed in the western hemisphere and the second largest ever in the world. 

Medical records which the doctors used to base their feat, show that the largest tumor successfully removed from a patient weighed 5.018 kilos (approximately 11 pounds) and was done during a five-and-a-half-hour surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India, breaking the previous record of a 5.5-pound tumour removed at Sir Gangaram Hospital, also in India. 

The operating time for the local surgery was two hours whilst theatre time was three hours, allowing one hour for anesthetic preparation and monitoring by Ewe prior to the knife to skin start time.

The three doctors sat down for an interview with members of the media at Sawh’s medical office yesterday and described the surgery as “touch and go” because of a number of pre-existing medical conditions the patient, whom they did not name, had. 

Among them were cardiac issues and scoliosis, which caused the bending of his spine. All together, they said, that left limited space for the doctors to work to remove the tumour successfully.

Sawh equated the eight-pound growth to that of the size of a woman’s stomach when she is some months pregnant. 

He said the growth may have developed over a year but the patient’s “self-diagnosed” used a regimen of herbal medicine to cure his sudden weight loss and extending stomach. He said strangely, the patient said he had no pain nor did he pass blood in his urine as is usual with a tumour.

“It is amazing somebody could actually carry that around for a year and not see something is wrong. I am loosing weight, not feeling my usual self, in this day and age people still take things for granted,” Sawh said. 

Only a few weeks ago, when the patient started experiencing severe abdominal pain, he sought Sawh’s services. Sawh said from the moment he saw him he knew if the growth was not removed from the patient’s left kidney he would have died.

“When we saw his scans, we realised we had big challenges and for the first time in my 35-year medical career, I made a man sign a consent form that he could die on the operating table,” Sawh said.

Budhooram added; “The tumour was so huge it was pushing the diaphragm, the left lung and the heart up. The growth was also going down into his pelvis, so this thing occupied the entire left half of the abdomen and even pushed his major blood vessels, which are normally in the middle, to the right.”

He said the vein of the tumour was actually larger than the vein going to the heart, which posed another challenge.

Sawh interjected: “So the challenge was space and as Dr Budhooram explained, if you make one error with the blood vessels that is death on the operating table.”

Anaesthetist Ewe said he too faced a number of challenges to put the patient to sleep because the patient had a large mass compressing on the heart and a pre-existing cardiac issue. 

“So we had to get the cardiologist to come in and see him and do and ECHO so I could assess and anticipate what problems I would face with him. 

“Also, with the big mass pressing against the diaphragm, squashing the base of the lungs, you had to adjust how you ventilate him because the lungs would not have much room for expansion after that big mass comes up. 

“So to put him to sleep, we obviously had to do a lot of invasive monitoring. We had to put in a lot of lines to monitor the blood pressure and the fluid status. Because of the pre-existing heart condition we couldn’t overload him with liquid because his heart would not have been able to take the strain,” Ewe added.

The doctors said they had to wait for the right time to operate as a result of those existing conditions. 

Nevertheless, on December 2, after Ewe was able to prepare and put him to sleep, Sawh and Budhooram, ably supported by scrub nurse and head operating theatre nurse, Susan Maharaj, and her team of Moncy Mathew and the theatre staff, went to work on the patient from east Trinidad for three hours to undertake one of the riskiest challenges of their careers. 

“We did him on Wednesday, he was kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the first 24 hours and by Saturday, he was home, three days post-operatively,” Sawh said.

The removed tumour specimen was weighed and sent to the labs for analysis. 

In terms of his survival, Sawh said they have to wait for the histology from the labs and if all his organs were fine then that would be a sign he was cured. However, if the capsule has been breached then he may have to do additional chemotherapy. 

The doctors said the case would be published in an international medical journal.

President of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) Joseph Remy has described the laying off of 600 workers from ArcellorMittal, “as a direct and brazen attack on trade unions in T&T.”

He also expressed solidarity with the dismissed steel workers and their families, “two weeks and some days before Christmas by a foreign entity.”

Steel workers president Christopher Henry said yesterday the matter had been placed in the hands of the union’s lawyers.

Remy criticised the Point Lisas-based Indian steel giant’s action saying: “A multinational would have taken action to disrupt the lives of locals and we would continue to accept these things because we keep saying we are a global village.”

“We are a sovereign state and as such one must stand up in defence of the working class of T&T.” 

He said the layoffs took place in spite of the assurances given by Finance Minister Colm Imbert that no action would be taken against workers.

Remy insisted that the working class and ordinary citizens should not be held responsible for the current economic morass and should not be the ones having to carry the burden of any adjustments based on statements made by Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran about T&T being in a recession.

“If they attack the heart of the union and its membership then it debilitates the ability of the union to engage in progressive trade union action to benefit the workers,” he added.

On Monday, ArcellorMittal served notices to some 600 workers, all members of the Steel Workers Union of T&T. The company says the number of workers affected was 480. 

The steel company said the over-supply of steel in the international market and the drying up of orders for its DRI and steel products produced at its Point Lisas plant has led to this temporary shutdown of its operations.

The company said the global steel industry, including ArcellorMittal, is experiencing its worst recession in ten years and it had no choice but to react to these changes in the industry by sending home the workers.

The workers were sent home with $2,000 “as an act of goodwill” by the company, as payment for the period December 7 to January 15 next year. 

Days after ArcelorMittal laid off a reported 600 of its workers and Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus called on companies to only send home workers as a last option, one of the steel company’s service providers, Tube City IMS Limited, has parted ways with 40 employees.

Amidst this development, the Steel Workers Union of T&T, which represents the workers, is also bracing for similar action at another steel company, Centrin.

The union and Centrin held an emergency meeting yesterday but at the end of it the union’s chief labour relations officer, Timothy Bailey, said it was his understanding that the Centrin workers’ jobs were safe for now. 

However, union general secretary Ramkumar Narinesingh said he was worried about the ripple effect the ArcellorMittal layoffs would have on other smaller companies. Focusing on the insensitivity of Point Lisas-based Tube City, Bailey said the 40-odd workers were sent home without a definite period being identified.

“They have been sent home with their hands swinging. The workers have not gone home with any relief funds whatsoever, even though we are in the Christmas season so they are ten times worse than Mittal,” Bailey said.

Tube City IMS (Trinidad) Limited (TCIMS) is a leading provider of onsite industrial mill services for steel makers worldwide. It is an international company which served as a contractor to ArcelorMittal. 

Citing a reduced demand for steel products internationally and the expiration of its contract with ArcellorMittal earlier this year, Tube City sent home approximately 157 workers, the majority being women. Bailey said the 157 in March/April and the 40 odd workers yesterday now means, “the entire workforce has been wiped out.”

In a release issued yesterday, union president Christopher Henry confirmed the layoffs and absence of communication between Tube City and the union. He again called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Baptiste-Primus, a former trade union leader, to intervene in this matter. A news conference has been planned for this morning at the union’s California office.

A local doctor is urging citizens against dismissing body pains as “gas” and to instead seek a medical opinion for any discomfort they may experience.

Anesthetist and intensivist Dr Peng Ewe, one of the three doctors who successfully removed the world’s second largest tumor from a Sangre Grande man last week, said citizens have a culture of dismissing every body pain they experience as gas. But a lot of times it is not and could be a tell tale sign that something is wrong.

“Pain is always an issue,” another member of the team, general vascular surgeon Dr Steve Budhooram said. In the case of the patient from whom the eight-pound tumour was removed, he said: “He had no pain so he felt all was well.

“It is the same thing with cancer of the breast. You still see a lot of women with advance cancer of the breast because it doesn’t pain but the moment you get a benign lesion in the breast because this is painful they seek help.”

Urologist and lead surgeon who performed the historic surgery, urologist Dr Lall R Sawh, advised men especially once they cross age 45, to do annual prostate examination. He said a lot of men shy away from this examination because of homophobia.

Sawh said it was one of the commonest cancers in this country, “yet men are not coming forward and even when they come forward they don’t want your finger in their rectum.” He said women are more accepting of medical examinations and did their annual breast examinations and pap smear to ensure they were cancer free. 

“We (men) are horrible in terms of taking care of our health and we need to be much more proactive in looking after our own health. Our health is our own responsibility, not the responsibility of doctors and nurses,” Sawh said.

Both doctors Ewe and Budhooram said the incidence of colorectal cancer (also known as colon cancer, rectal cancer, or bowel cancer) was on the rise in T&T. 

Ewe said gastroenterologists picked up two to three cases every week. They advised susceptible patient, which includes older people, those with inherited genetic disorders, diabetes sufferers and those who are obese, to see their doctors.

Signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel movements, weight loss and feeling tired all the time. Dr Sawh said the tumour, which was removed from the 52-year old patient at the Southern Medical Clinic, San Fernando, on December 2, has been sent to the lab for analysis to determine if the growth was cancerous.

The patient was discharged from the hospital on Saturday and is recuperating at his home. Medical records state that it was the largest tumour removed in the western hemisphere and the second largest in the world. The largest was 5.018 kilogramme, approximately 11 lbs, in a New Delhi Hospital at The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India.

A High Court judge yesterday used a human rights forum to make a strong call for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation and matters of privacy, starting with the amendment of laws which now affect people in such a manner. 

Justice Frank Seepersad made the call at the symposium organised by the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, in partnership with the European Union.

“We cannot bury our heads in the sand. The world has changed, relationships have evolved and an individual’s right to determine whom he or she should love and forge a future with should be respected,” Seepersad told the forum.

“The courts should not be shackled by antiquated laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and should not have to mete out treatment that is inconsistent with the treatment that is afforded to heterosexual couples.” 

He slammed the criminalisation of anal sex between consenting homosexual couples and the failure to recognise civil partnerships or marriages between consenting same sex couples

Before an audience of leading jurists, intellectuals and activists, he suggested “that the law has to be dynamic. It has to evolve and it has to be relevant to the society and in this global era it is ill-advised to operate as if we are in a vacuum.  

“Our laws should conform to international accepted standards and our citizens have every right to be afforded the same level of respect and protection that citizens in other parts of the developed world enjoy.” 

The renowned jurist said judges were the guardians of the Constitution and acted as the upholders of the fundamental rights and freedoms therein contained.

Accordingly, he said, judges played or ought to play a pivotal role in advancing the protection of human rights. He said the human rights challenges that faced judges could be readily remedied if there was the political will to do that which was right.

“The challenge for the Judiciary arises when internationally recognised human right norms are not incorporated into domestic law,” he said, in his discourse at the Noor Hassanali Auditorium, UWI.

To illustrate the point, he zoomed in on the controversial topic of sexual orientation and same sex unions. He noted that the Republic Constitution contained no explicit provision that covered non- discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.  

“Our equality legislation is primarily focused on equality of opportunity and makes no provisions with respect to discrimination that is premised upon sexual orientation,” he added.

He said while in many countries there had been a gradual acceptance of the right to enjoy a meaningful union with a partner of choice, to be able to own property jointly and to receive estate entitlements, in T&T the Sexual Offences Act criminalises buggery as between homosexual couples and did not recognise civil partnerships or marriages between consenting same sex couples.

“This position is viewed as being consistent with the right to enjoy family life and also the right not to be discriminated against because of sexual orientation. Our citizens have and enjoy no such rights and/or entitlements if they decide to be involved with a partner of the same sex,” he said.

He also cast light on T&T’s discriminatory Immigration Act which prohibits entry to homosexuals, a matter which is now engaging the Caribbean Court of Justice in the case of openly gay Jamaican attorney Maurice Tomlinson. 

Referencing matters affecting the right to privacy, he referenced the recent case of West Indies cricketer Lendl Simmons who was ordered to pay $150,000 in compensation for leaking sexually explicit photographs of account executive Therese Ho, with whom he had an extra-marital affair.
Seepersad said the court determined that there was no common law right to privacy and there was no tort of the misuse of private information. 

However, he pointed out that in Europe, the European Convention or Human Rights recognised that there was a right to privacy and therefore issues relating to privacy were determined with regard to the human rights element as laid down in the convention. Seepersad also called for the abolition of the death penalty. 

Whether the continuing imposition of the death penalty which has not been carried out since 1999 continues to be a deterrent to capital offences was argued by Justice Frank Seepersad as he made a case for its abolition in T&T.

Advocating his case for its abolition, Seepersad said judges were yoked with the obligation of imposing a mandatory death sentence on an accused convicted of murder.  

The contentious issue of the pros and cons of the death penalty was brought to the fore at a symposium focusing on human rights issues, organised by the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, in partnership with the European Union, on Wednesday evening.

Seepersad said even though there had been no execution since 1999 and convicts, most of whom have been incarcerated for periods that exceed the Pratt and Morgan time line, continue to have the sentence of death ominously hanging over their heads.  

“But this is the law of the land which a judge is constitutionally mandated to follow,” he noted.

 The symposium, which featured leading jurists, intellectuals and activists, involved key issues of human rights, including children’s rights, LGBTI rights, the death penalty and prison/detention issues. Seepersad said the issue of the continuation of the death penalty was shrouded with a lot of emotion and had possible political ramifications.  

“There is also a lack of empirical data as to whether it has proven to have had a deterred effect in this jurisdiction and one must therefore ask how effective a deterrent it has been, given that no one has been executed for close to two decades and although it is the law, the number of murders continue, to increase. 

“It must also be acknowledged that our retention of the death penalty is inconsistent with the position that has been adopted by significant sections of the developed world.”

He said punishment that was cruel, inhumane and degrading should not be a facet of national life. He recalled Chief Justice Ivor Archie, at the opening of the 2015/2016 law term, identifying the number of convicted people that were on Death Row and asked whether as a nation, T&T could stomach the number of executions that would be required, if the orders of the court were to be carried out.  He said the case for abolition must be considered and in pursuit of the spirit of partnership with global partners in particular European partners’.

The judge said human rights challenges that face judges could be readily remedied if there was the political will to do that which was right.  

“Judges have a responsibility to ensure that the law develops so as to meet the just demands and aspirations of an ever developing society and decisions of the court should accord with the international human right norms.”

He said he hoped that the discussion started by the Law Faculty would pave the path for a meaningful review of issues such as the death penalty, discrimination based on sexual orientation and matters of privacy and that judges would be saved from embarking upon path of Judicial activism in an attempt to ensure that their decisions accord with internationally accepted norms.

Chutney soca artiste Samraj “Rikki Jai” Jaimungal had to beg for his life after a gunman who shot at him and missed kept the loaded gun pointed at his waist for approximately three of the most terrifying minutes of his life, as he demanded money and other valuables in exchange for Jaimungal’s life on Wednesday.

“He threatened to shoot me but I begged for my life. I told him he did not have to shoot, I will hand over the money and he showed me some mercy and only robbed me. I have to thank God for that,” Jaimungal said in a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday.

He said he did not know if the unmasked gunman recognised him and for that reason did not shoot him.

“I don’t know if he knew who I was but he showed mercy on me and I have to be grateful for that,” he said.

This is not the first time Jaimungal has been a target of criminals. He described a similar attack in Marabella, south Trinidad, in 1988.

“I was mugged in Marabella. I was hospitalised. I still have three inches of scars in my back as a reminder but the good Lord is not ready for me yet. He know I have three kids to take care of,” he said.

The crossover artiste, who is a semifinalist in both the International Soca Monarch and Chutney/Soca competitions with his 2016 hit “Leh We Fete”, explained that shortly after midnight yesterday, he and his band had just finished rehearsals at the Speedway Building, San Juan, when they noticed the driver of a Nissan B14 driving up and down the street.

“A couple of the guys drove off and me and the drummer were still standing there. We observed the two guys making their way towards us and I told the drummer, ‘This not looking too good leh we ride out of here.’ I see the guy (driver) start to pick up pace and I run to my vehicle and my guy ran towards his.”

Jaimungal said by the time he got to his vehicle, one of the occupants of the car, armed with a gun, jumped out and fired a shot at him. He said he don’t know where that shot went, “because I went back with the police today (Thursday) and no shells were found, neither was my car damaged. I don’t know if he shot it in the air.”

A frightened Jaimungal, who was already seated in his vehicle, said in his haste to drive off he fumbled with the gear stick.

“At this time he (the gunman) was right up on me. Pointing the gun towards me, he said ‘Open the door or I will shoot you.’”

Jaimungal complied and the gunman stuck the gun in his waist and continued to threaten his life.

“He then demanded my wallet. I don’t walk with a wallet. I just had some cash and my driver’s permit. I begged for my life because he kept saying he would shoot me but I told him you don’t have to shoot, I will give you the money and whatever you want. 

“The gun was on my waist all the time. I gave him the cash and he took my cellphone and he ran off,” he recalled.

The bandit escaped in the waiting car.

Jaimungal said after he was able to regain his composure he actually chased after the bandits’ car, but lost them near the Carib brewery. He said crime had been a problem for too long in T&T and even though the police keep producing statistics to say it was going down, “it is still happening. 

“I don’t have the solution for crime. I wish I did. That is the job of the police, those in authority. When it happens to you, you know how it feels. I just hope the police catch the culprits,” he added.

However, he said the incident would not deter him and his band from their rehearsals. 

“It is Carnival time, we have lots of jobs. We have to practise. The owners of the building will organise security and the band members will just have to look at the time we are leaving and how we are leaving, so we are not vulnerable,” he said.

San Juan police are continuing investigations.

As energy prices continue to plummet, the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) is appealing to employers to find alternatives to sending workers home. The statement follows confirmation from bhp Billiton yesterday that it has had to eliminate “half a dozen positions,” two of which are offshore jobs. 

This follows the earlier announcement from the bp Group that it planned to cut some 4,000 jobs globally in exploration and production. Nationals are also likely to be among those affected.

The Australian outfit bhp, which is engaged in deepwater operations in T&T, said it was examining its current and future business needs to optimise both staffing and costs and make appropriate adjustments in its global petroleum business. 

It also pledged commitment to its ongoing operations and maintaining a platform for future growth opportunities.

Reports first surfaced on Tuesday that bhp had sent home 60 of its workers as the price of oil dipped below US$30. The news met with condemnation from the OWTU and the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), the latter which posed the question: “Who’s next?”

OWTU’s education officer, Ozzi Warwick, said they were deeply disturbed by those reports because the company derived substantial benefits from T&T  over the years and found it unacceptable that it would move so swiftly to send home workers in light of falling commodity prices.

Warwick said: “So you could imagine the kind of profits they made because between 2002-2012 gas production went up by some 174 per cent.

“We want to make it clear that no workers should be sent home at this point in time,” he said, recalling Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley assurance in his recent address to the nation there would be no job losses.

Noting the dismissal of some 200 Central Trinidad Steel Ltd (Centrin) workers on Monday, he urged companies not to use that as an excuse to send workers home. Responding to the global job cuts, bpTT said it would follow the bp Group’s focus to improve efficiency and reduce costs. 

BHP’s statement

Today’s petroleum industry is facing extremely challenging market conditions, even by historical standards.

bhp Billiton is examining our current and future business needs to optimise both staffing and costs and make appropriate adjustments in its global petroleum business. We remain committed to our ongoing operations while maintaining a platform for future growth opportunities.

We will achieve this goal through our productivity programme, which is already yielding significant savings, and organisational adjustments to meet the needs of our business. As a result, we will have a smaller, more focused organisation and this has resulted in some employee reductions.

The result of this work is that within the T&T operation, as in company locations globally, some positions will be impacted. Within our operations in T&T, contrary to rumours, up to half a dozen positions will be eliminated, only two are offshore jobs. 

bhp Billiton will continue the process of reviewing its business to ensure optimal efficiency.