TOXICOLOGY expert Dr Rik van de Weerdt has arrived in The Bahamas to assist and support the government’s investigations into the gasoline spill at the Rubis station on Robinson Road.
Welcoming the Dutchman yesterday, Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez said the presence of Dr van de Weerdt showed the government was “living up to its promises” and hoped that the country would be “much better off” as a result of the consultations. He said that an Epidemiologist with extensive experience in working with the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is scheduled to join the team of health consultants shortly.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Glen Beneby said the government had requested that the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) help prepare a future plan on the Rubis spill. He said that Dr van de Weerdt had started his work and pointed out that the Ministry will share information from the incident with him to be used as a reference point in his consultative work.
PAHO and the World Health Organisation were instrumental in securing the services of Dr van de Weerdt and, according to its consultant, Kelly Kavanagh Salmond, the Social Determinants of Health for The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, PAHO seeks to achieve two main objectives during this process: to support the ongoing government protocols and to engage with specific organisations and incorporate their recommendations into the overall future strategy.
The government has been criticised for its handling of the spill and its infiltration of the groundwater system. Marathon residents are only now being screened for potential health effects after a report of the spill was kept from the public for over a year.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 10 months ago
This expert is presumably being paid by the Bahamas government. Nothing more need be said!
ThisIsOurs 8 years, 10 months ago
If the government allows the PAC to complete its work and tables the UR report it will be one step in the direction of fulfilling their obligations to the people.
On this spill, the right thing for the government to do was to have everyone removed who either stood by and did nothing, or worse yet stalled the report release. Ministers Maynard-Giibson, Dorsett, Gomez, Fitzgerald, Christie and Davis. As long as they remain they are shining examples of how far this government will go to protect its own interest over that of the people they swore to protect.
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