NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 13, 2021) — The Nevis Tourism Authority (NTA) in conjunction with a number of stakeholders, launched a new sustainability project to encourage the people of Nevis to engage in recycling plastics to help make the island an eco-friendlier destination.
Ms. Jadine Yarde, Chief Executive Officer of the NTA, while delivering remarks at the project’s launch on October 13, 2021, at the designated plastics drop-off site at Long Point explained the idea behind the project.
“The idea and the intention behind this project, is really to get persons to be able to recycle. So we are hoping that with this project in conjunction with the various stakeholders…as well as the Taiwanese Embassy and [Nevis] Solid Waste Management, we’re able to transform Nevis into a sustainable destination…
“Our goal is really to engage through education, through marketing initiatives, community participation, we are looking for everyone to understand the needs of recycling, and understanding how important it is for them to contribute to this amazing project because again, this is all of our island and it’s important for us to work together to make this a success,” she said.
According to Ms. Yarde, the project was in the making for the past six months, and the idea came about because of a recycling project that the Charlestown Secondary School was undertaking. However, due to financial challenges affecting the school project it fizzled out and, the NTA saw the need to pick up from where the school had left off.
She noted that the NTA came together with a number of stakeholders who shared the same interest.
“We came together with various stakeholders around the island including WINA [Windward In Action], Nevis Clean and Green, NHCS [Nevis Historical and Conservation Society], [Nevis] Solid Waste Management [Authority], Charlestown Secondary School, and many just eager persons that wanted to do something for the island, and we saw the need for us to really place an emphasis on recycling.
“We know that reduce, reuse recycle is very important to keeping an island that is sustainable for years to come and for those to come, and so we decided to come together as an organisation and formed the group Sustainable Nevis,” she said.
Ms. Yarde, also encouraged everyone on the island to learn more about sorting, recycling and how they can play their part in continuing to make the island a special place.
Leading up to the launch, the group has also created a sub-committee and a marketing team to examine the ways in which the group could best get its campaign to the public.
The NTA’s CEO used the occasion to thank the management of LEFCO Equipment Rental for their services; Mr. Steven Hector for donating a container for storage purposes; the Nevis Water Department for allowing them to utilise their space at Long Point; Mr. Devon Griffin for creating a logo for the group; and Ms. Joyce Cheng, Project Manager of the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund’s St. Kitts and Nevis Solid Waste Management and Recycling Project, for expertise and a donation of sanitizers for the Long Point and the Republic of China (Taiwan) Embassy in St. Kitts and Nevis for additional bins.
Other remarks also came from Mr. Roger Hanley, Operations Manager at the Nevis Water Department and Ms. Joyce Cheng Project Manager of the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund’s ongoing St. Kitts and Nevis Solid Waste Management and Recycling Project in the Federation; and Ms. Jewella Queeley of Windward In Action.
St. Kitts and Nevis is the recipient of two field hospitals at the cost of 1.3 million US dollars, courtesy of the Humanitarian Assistance Programme of the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM).
A field hospital is a temporary hospital where emergency health services can be provided in the short and medium term to victims injured in epidemics, war and natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.
The 40-bed health facility will be used to strengthen the Federation’s fight against the covid19 pandemic as more and more deaths are recorded daily.
The facility provides a negative pressure facility to isolate covid19 patients thus conferring another crucial health capability. It is equipped with patient rails, intravenous poles, mattresses and a generator.
It also has its own plumbing and water treatment system in accordance with the best international standards and practice and will allow for the deliverance of air-conditioned service to patients.
Referring to the handing over as historic, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Dr Timothy Harris in addressing the ceremony to receive the field hospitals at the Warner Park Stadium on Wednesday, said this is an important first in the federation. He thanked the government of the United States of America for the generous donation and spoke of the significance of acquiring the 40-bed health facility.
He said these investments are part of the build-out of the ‘Life First’ strategy that the government has been advocating and represents further continuing efforts to strengthen the health system in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The field hospital will serve as an adjunct structure that meets hospital standards.
This was announced by the Minister of Health Akilah Byron Nisbett who said the identified placement of the field hospital to the respiratory ward of the Joseph N. France General hospital where covid19 affected patients are currently being accommodated, is strategic, as its placement allows easy access to any required specialized equipment as well as staff providing care.
She said the advancement of healthcare in St. Kitts and Nevis is a top priority for the Ministry of Health and they will utilize every possible means and capitalize on any meaningful opportunity to demonstrate the mission ‘People First and Quality always.”
Over the last two days, health practitioners and support staff have been undergoing training in the setting up and disassembling of the field hospitals.
The health minister used the opportunity to commend those who underwent the training aimed at further equipping them with additional first-responder skills.
“Undoubtedly, the Ministry of Health is grateful for the strong collaborative support and interests of the technical team who have participated in the critical training to familiarize and be equipped with knowledge of the new structure and its assembling and disassembling processes,” she said. “We are so very grateful for your commitment to this new learning experience certainly, and experience of skills which will bolster our healthcare system.”
United States Ambassador to Barbados, The Eastern Caribbean and the OECS Linda Taglialatela said “The field hospitals are the cornerstone of her county’s commitment to the health of their neighbours in this hemisphere.
“Our donation of this critically needed infrastructure will increase the ability of St. Kitts and Nevis to address the ongoing global pandemic and meet future challenges including natural disasters.”
She congratulated the federation’s officials for the work that has been done in managing the pandemic on the islands, noting that it is hoped the field hospitals will assist further in that regard.
“I am proud that our partnership is strong as ever… today is another step in our journey as we work together to end the pandemic…I certainly congratulate you on the high vaccine rate in St. Kitts and Nevis. If we each do our part, we can end the pandemic together.”
“We know that the medical beds these two field hospitals provide will help you continue your model management of covid19,” she said. “They will support you to deploy first-responders quickly to where they are needed and the United States will continue to stand with you to ensure our shared health and prosperity.”
The partnership between St. Kitts and Nevis and the US has been reciprocal as St. Kitts has hosted the Tradewinds exercise in 2015 and again in 2018.
In addition to the 40-bed capacity field hospitals, the United States Government has also generously donated three passenger vehicles, 16 computers and technical support equipment to the twin-island Federation.
The donation is valued at over US$1.5 million. The second field hospital will be commissioned in Nevis shortly.
Storytelling is a vast art, you can tell your tale in a thousand different ways and each one will be a unique take.
Roodmy Poulard, a former choreographer, has transitioned into the field of directing and cinematography. Poulard is a creative powerhouse and while he used to express his artistry through dance before, he has since moved to the camera and captures stories, and moments.
Using a particular colour palette – that reminds Poulard of his home back in Haiti -, and highlighting the virtues of passion, discipline and joy, Poulard has set himself apart from his peers and created works that are very uniquely his.
His earliest work behind the camera was for shooting music videos. Poulard started making a name for himself by directing music videos, and an offer for a documentary came to him, and he accepted. This offer was for filming the documentary for the then Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe. After wrapping up this project Poulard flew to South Africa to film another politically charged documentary.
In 2015, he moved to New York to pursue his career as a director and cinematographer. In New York, Poulard worked with B.E.T and the renowned photographer and director Marc Baptiste became his mentor.
Around this time, Baptiste and Poulard did a project with Quincy Brown. Impressed with the work, Brown encouraged Poulard to continue pursuing his ambitions as a director, and to move to Los Angeles to broaden his horizons.
Poulard did end up going to Los Angeles, initially it was just for a couple of weeks for a meeting. But the two weeks have rolled on to three years and Poulard has set up his home and company here. Poulard founded Poulard Films to find more collaborative opportunities and to have a solid base from where he could pursue independent projects.
In his early days in Los Angeles, Poulard’s work caught the attention of Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, and became one of the go-to cinematographers for the Revolt TV’s founder’s upcoming projects. Moving to Hollywood turned out to be a good move on Poulard’s side, because here he was able to reach more places with his work, and did projects with streaming giants like Netflix, Pandora, Revolt, and HBO.
When asked about his inspiration behind his works, Poulard told us, “Hope. Hope is a beautiful thing and it inspires me to keep on working. Of course every project has its own themes and ideas, but underneath it all is my hope and aspirations. I hope I can prove to the world that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, if you work hard you can achieve everything you have your heart set on.
“I am from Haiti and we don’t have as many resources as someone from the states. Even electricity is a luxury in Haiti, but I had big dreams and was willing to work for them, and that has brought me to where I am. I hope that my work and efforts give hope to someone else.”.
CNW- As the Covid-19 situation improves in Grenada, there has been a decline over the last three weeks in the number of persons taking the vaccine.
Speaking at the weekly post Cabinet press briefing, acting permanent secretary with responsibility for Hospital Services and Health Services, Julien St. Paul told reporters that the situation is troubling for health authorities.
Grenada in recent weeks recorded a considerable decline in the number of positive cases, hospitalization, deaths, and positivity rates linked to the pandemic.
She said that the encouraging decline in infections came at a price, “not only a financial burden to our health system, but also one where we have lost a significant number of our elderly citizens.”
“It leaves us to ask the question, are we getting comfortable with the decline in the positivity rate? The number of new infections has been dropping consistently in the last three weeks. However, one death is too many.”
“We wish to take the opportunity to appeal to all. Let us not lower our guard because of the reduced level of positivity and restrictions. Let us all remember that while the numbers are down, the virus is still within our midst.”
St Paul further stated that the Ministry had to implement measures to re-assign health services and also had to put on hold specialist services within the hospital.
“ These actions had to be taken to obtain the necessary human resource to create additional health care teams to be deployed to communities and provide extended hours of services within the health districts.”
Meanwhile Dr. Tyhiesia Donald, Director of Medical Services is encouraging Grenadians to take the vaccine as it is the only way to get back to normal. She further stated that even though there has been a decline in the number of positive cases, persons should still follow the established Covid-19 guidelines; washing of hands, wearing of masks, sanitizing and social distancing.
“The numbers are decreasing, but in order to flatten the curve, behavior is very important. We want to ensure that we maintain good behavior to prevent the spread. If we continue to observe all Covid-19 protocols and avoid large crowds, the number will decrease and flatten the curve”.
Dr. Dolland Noel, Head of Internal Medicine, General Hospital is reporting that some persons who have contracted Covid-19 are now suffering from what he termed as “Post-covid Syndrome”.
“As a clinician, I can tell you that there are already patients who have Covid-19 consequences,” he says. The sickness lasts seven to fourteen days, and most patients who come to our facility recover and are discharged within that time frame. However, some patients acquire a condition known as post-Covid-syndrome,” he said during the cabinet’s weekly press briefing.
Dr. Noel, who is also the head of the Covid-19 Medical Response Team, told reporters that among the symptoms are chronic fatigue or feeling tiredness, persistent shortness of breath and coughing, no sense of smell or taste, as well as neurological symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
“It’s always best to protect ourselves and prevent getting it in the first place” he stated, as viral infections usually have a squealae
Dr. Noel said all those infected by COVID-19 can get a sequelae which can persist for weeks and or months after the initial recovery stage and that persons who believe they were infected should seek medical counselling.
“What I want to stress to you, is that there are some of you out there who may have had the mild disease because 80 per cent of the population who were affected by Covid-19 are going to have mild disease, a little body ache, a little headache a little fever and you may recover without medical attention but what about that other 20 percent who may have moderate and severe disease,” he said.
“Please take the necessary measures to avoid contracting the virus, we are still vulnerable. Even though the numbers are decreasing. More than 66 percent of the population have not taken the vaccine to give us that protection. If our vaccination rate remains low it is possible that we will have another outbreak of Covid-19.” Dr. Noel reiterated.
Grenada has recorded more than 5,000 positive cases as well as 182 deaths since mid-August after having recorded only one death since January from the virus. More than 300 patients have been hospitalized as a result of this wave of the virus.
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People from as far as Cuba are heading to Belarus to try to enter the European Union. But pushbacks and violence along the Polish border mean that fewer migrants are succeeding with their plans. The EU believes that Belarus is deliberately sending migrants across the border to destabilize the bloc.
People from all over the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa try to make their way into the EU. An estimated 16,000 migrants and refugees have been stopped by Poland’s border patrol for illegally crossing the country’s 250-mile-long border with Belarus since August alone. Following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August, the number of Afghan nationals showing up on the border has witnessed a particularly sharp rise.
But recently, there have also been reports of Cuban nationals joining the scores of would-be asylum seekers waiting for the right opportunity to make clandestine journeys into EU-member Poland.
They abandon the Caribbean climate of Cuba usually by plane, heading for the Russian capital Moscow, where people smugglers have reportedly arranged to collect them to transport them into Belarus — a key ally of Russia — under the watchful eye of the authorities.
“(T)hat’s where our journey got a lot worse,” a malnourished and injured Cuban national named Doniel Machado Pujol told Washington-based National Public Radio (NPR) after being caught by Polish police while trying to sneak into the EU.
The barbed-wire border fence between Poland and Belarus | Photo: Viktor Tolochko/Sputnik/dpa/picture alliance
Violence used as a deterrent
Pujol highlights that with each time he is forcibly returned to Belarus, he faces increasingly brutal beatings by authorities on either side of the border: His legs are bruised and cut after Belarusian soldiers reportedly beat him with metal pipes, threatening to do worse if they were to see him again. There have even been allegations of shots being fired along the border.
“Don’t send me back! They’ll kill me! Look at what they’ve done to my legs,” he begs as he is being processed to be sent back. “They have no respect for human dignity or human rights,” the 29-year-old tells NPR.
“We are like footballs in a game between Poland and Belarus. Nobody wants us.”
Polish soldiers eye the Belarusian border through a newly-erected wire fence | Photo: Dominika Zarzycka/Photo alliance
A manufactured crisis
EU leaders have been alleging for a several months that the humanitarian crisis on the bloc’s external borders is orchestrated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s government. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel is among those who have accused Belarus of illegally pushing migrants over the border into European Union territory.
They all accuse Belarus of organizing the illegal passage of migrants into Poland and other EU neighbors in retaliation for economic sanctions placed on Belarus and in a bid to destabilize the bloc.
The EU alongside various other governments and international bodies around the world allege that the authoritarian leader stole last year’s election while intimidating his opponents with the widespread use of violence on any dissenting voice. Lukashenko denies all the accusations.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is accused of using migrants as pawns in a game of international diplomacy | Photo: Maxim Guchek/BelTA/TASS/dpa/picture-alliance
Humanitarian groups have meanwhile also criticized Poland for pushing some of the migrants back to Belarus rather than reviewing their asylum applications and allowing them due process in violation of EU law and United Nations conventions on refugees.
Marcin Przydacz, deputy foreign minister of Poland, has meanwhile defended that policy, saying that “(i)f we allow more and more people to cross the border, then Mr. Lukashenko, who’s also doing business on this, will invite even more of those people.”
Death and suffering along border
Kalina Czwarnog from the Polish humanitarian organization Ocalenie Foundation, says that a growing number of people are being lured to the Polish-Belarusian border under false pretences.
“There are many Iraqis, Kurds, there are people from Yemen, Syria, there are people from African countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, and now we’ve got people from Afghanistan,” she told NPR in an interview.
She agrees with the assessment that the government of Belarus is deliberately orchestrating a humanitarian crisis on its borders: “They are inviting them to Belarus, saying that they can cross the EU border from there. And they are getting a seven-day visa or stamp,” she explains, adding that from there, Belarusian soldiers escort them to the border and help them to get across.
An Iraqi asylum seeker is assisted by paramedics after fainting in a forest outside the area covered by the state of emergency on October 3, 2021 in Podlasie region in eastern Poland | Photo: Jakub Kaminski/East News
Instead of allowing migrants to apply for asylum on the Polish side, however, Czwarnog says Polish border guards put most of the migrants in vans and take them back to Belarus, where soldiers often beat them and send them back to Poland again.
Polish officials say that at least five migrants have died from the harsh conditions along the border. Czwarnog meanwhile fears that more people will die along that border as the weather is bound to turn colder in coming weeks. She says that she recently found a group of migrants from Iraq with three young children suffering from severe hypothermia.
After calling an ambulance in the emergency situation, she says that Poland’s border patrol took two children and two adults, but sent a 6-year-old child with five adults back to Belarus, potentially separating the family irreparably.
The dangerous journey through Eastern Europe comes at a high price not just for the morale of those that are forcibly returned.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Syrian family told NPR that the journey to Belarus and on to the Polish border came at a price tag of $16,000. After securing visas, Belarusian soldiers reportedly helped him, his wife and their two young children to cross a river along the Polish-Russian border.
After hiking through dense forest for 12 hours, the family were caught by Polish border guards. However, the Syrian family were taken to a shelter in the city of Bialystok instead of being returned to Belarus.
The Syrian man believes that Poland didn’t send his family back because they, too, were suffering from hypothermia. He believes his family has a good chance of being granted asylum in the EU. Others are far less lucky, with push-backs becoming increasingly common along the border.
Border security guards surround migrants on the border between Poland and Belarus | Photo: picture alliance
Belarus involved in trafficking
However, there is mounting proof that Belarus has indeed helped to build the needed infrastructures to manufacture this crisis: At the beginning of 2021, there was only a single flight from Iraq to Minsk, the Belarusian capital. Now there are several flights a week from multiple Iraqi cities — all sold out through November, according to Iraqi Airways.
A Polish journalist named Patryk Michalski, who works or the digital news outlet Wirtualna Polska, says he also found evidence of Belarus’ government profiting from the human trafficking activities. He has shared documents with NPR left behind by a group of migrants along the border. Among the torn up pieces of paper were lists of travelers from Iraq, with passport numbers and receipts of payments made to Belarusian travel agencies.
There were also invoices of stays at five-star hotels run by the Belarusian government, as well as documents signed by Belarusian officials helping to facilitate the trips.
The political situation in Belarus remains unchanged, resulting in sanctions from the European Union and others | Photo: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/V. Sharifulin
Even Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko has indirectly acknowledged the country’s involvement in the current crisis: “If someone thinks that we will close the border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine and become a filtration camp for fugitives from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, they are mistaken at least.”
“We will not hold anyone. We are not their final destination after all. They are headed to the enlightened, warm, cozy Europe,” he said sarcastically in July 2021.
With more and more children falling severely ill with COVID-19, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) says several countries reported this trend as some younger populations are not eligible for vaccination.
Last week, Principal Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards reported that three children, including one receiving intensive care treatment, were among those hospitalised in the parallel healthcare system.
Responding to T&T’s epidemiological situation at PAHO’s weekly media briefing yesterday, Incident Manager for COVID-19 Dr Sylvain Aldighieri said this was expected.
He said several countries have reported increasing cases in the younger population, which is linked to greater exposure and the absence of vaccinations among the age groups.
“We know that older age groups are usually more careful with the control measures, stricter about the distancing and also that they have been prioritised for vaccination, in most of the countries, including the Caribbean countries.
“It is important to mention that if a particular variant becomes predominant like the Delta Variant at the moment in most of the Caribbean, it is of course the one variant that we are going to find affecting most of the population, including either asymptomatic, mild or severe cases,” Aldighieri said.
He added that vaccine hesitancy was the problem in most Caribbean countries, especially the English and French-speaking nations.
This is the situation as cases increase in the Caribbean while infection decrease in North and South America and most Central American countries.
As a result, PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne encourages Caribbean countries, where vaccinations are heavily politicised, to train health workers so they possess all the knowledge they need to respond to questions about COVID-19 and the vaccines.
Etienne said health workers were trusted sources, stressing that vaccines will help end the pandemic.
Over the last week, the Americas reported over 1.1 million new cases and just over 24,000 related deaths.
Among Caribbean countries, Barbados reported its highest number of cases and deaths since the pandemic started.
It followed a five-fold increase in infections over the last month. Cases are also increasing in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, and the Cayman Islands. Infection rates are decreasing in North America but remain high in Alaska and the mid-west of the United States of America.
Meanwhile, in Canada, cases are high in the North-West Territories, where the infection rates are 10 times the national average.
Most countries in Central America reported a decline in cases. However, it remains high in Belize.
There is a similar pattern in South America, but there are spikes at the sub-national level in Venezuela and Chile.
Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched its strategy to vaccinate 40 per cent of the population in every country by the end of 2021. Across the Caribbean and Latin America, 39 per cent of people are fully vaccinated.
Etienne reported that 26 countries and territories in the Americas already immunised 40 per cent or more of their population. However, coverage remains low in some countries.
Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, Guatemala, and Nicaragua have yet to reach 20 per cent of their populations and require special attention to reach the WHO’s 40 per cent target.
Across these countries, vaccine access has been a challenge. Jamaica has supply delays.
The shortage of syringes has delayed immunisation campaigns in Guatemala.
In Haiti, logistical challenges hindered the rollout of vaccines.
With 4.9 per cent of COVID-19 patients in the parallel healthcare system vaccinated some people have concerns about vaccine effectiveness.
Addressing this last week, Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa explained that each vaccine has a different efficacy rate and used various processes to develop immunity.
He said no vaccine for any disease has a 100 per cent efficacy rate.
“Some people will get the vaccine but would not develop protection against the disease. It can be caused by some immunity characteristics that some people have.
“We know for sure that the elderly have a weak immune system, so the efficacy rate can be less than the average population. So you have some very different reasons that one person can get the vaccine and not develop the protection,” Barbosa said.
He said if 4.5 per cent of hospitalised patients are vaccinated, it shows the vaccines’ effectiveness against severe disease, hospitalization, and deaths.
It also showed that the pandemic is continuing mostly through unvaccinated people.
He stressed that vaccines provide individual protection, but also a collective effect as people who are vaccinated transmit less of the virus.
Once many people transmit less in a community, the virus will have less opportunity to spread.
He said anti-vaxxers are not using all the information that is available to them.
MEXICO CITY, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The United States needs to invest more heavily in Central America if it hopes to slow record levels of northbound migration, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday.
Record numbers of migrants have passed through Mexico this year toward the United States, driven by economic downturns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and drawn by the hope of more welcoming immigration policies under U.S. President Joe Biden.
Biden has vowed to focus on the underlying causes of migration in Central America by working to reduce poverty, violence and corruption.
“There needs to be a bigger investment from the United States in Central America than has been given, without a doubt,” Ebrard told a Mexican radio program when asked about the prospect of Mexico acting as a barrier for migrants.
“Without this investment, if the United States does not support Central America, it’s very hard to think that the migration flows that are happening will diminish,” Ebrard added.
Biden noted in a recent letter to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that the United States provided more than $600 million in foreign assistance over the past year to the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The letter added that Biden has requested another $861 million from U.S. Congress for the 2022 fiscal year to also allocate to Central America.
Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Karishma Singh
BBC- A Brazilian healthcare provider is accused of giving unproven drugs to Covid-19 patients and conducting experiments on elderly people without their relatives’ consent. The allegations have been linked to deaths that, families say, could have been prevented.
Katia Castilho’s grief keeps her awake at night. In March, Norberto, her father, was admitted to a public hospital in São Paulo with Covid-19. Brazil, which has been hit hard by the pandemic, was then at the height of its second wave, with daily deaths numbering 4,000.
Days later, Ms Castilho’s mother, too, began to show symptoms of the disease. Irene, unlike Norberto, had access to a private healthcare provider, Prevent Senior, one of the country’s largest, with more than half a million customers.
The Castilho family contacted the company, and were sent a so-called “Covid Kit”, which included hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and ivermectin, despite there being no scientific evidence that those drugs are beneficial in the treatment of the virus.
Irene got worse and worse, and Ms Castilho and her two sisters decided to take their mother to a Prevent Senior-owned hospital. But, to their surprise, Ms Castilho says, Irene was sent back home without being examined.
Her condition worsened further overnight. By morning, Irene was struggling to breathe even with an oxygen cylinder. The family went back to the hospital, and she was finally admitted.
On that same day, Norberto died.
He was buried in a hurry, without rites, while the hearse waited a few moments for one of the Castilho sisters to say her goodbyes before driving her back and picking up more bodies.
Image source, Katia Castilho
Image caption, Irene was initially given a so-called Covid Kit with unproven treatments by her healthcare provider
Meanwhile at the hospital, Irene was kept in a small ward, where staff rarely came to check on her, Ms Castilho says. The sisters took turns to make sure the oxygen mask stayed on.
One day, Ms Castilho noticed that nurses were giving Irene a thick solution. She says she was told it was flutamide, a type of hormone used in prostate cancer. Flutamide can potentially lead to liver failure in certain patients, and Irene was a liver cancer survivor. The sisters say they had expressly told the hospital not to give her this drug.
“I was so upset by everything going on with my father, that I didn’t look for a doctor to discuss this,” Ms Castilho says. “Then I noticed that my mum was getting worse.”
Irene had been in hospital for nearly 10 days when she was taken to intensive care. Her organs began to fail, she developed deep-vein thrombosis, and after three weeks, was infected with a bacteria common in hospitals. She did not survive.
The sisters had 20 minutes to be with their mum for the last time. Irene was cremated and her ashes were scattered over Norberto’s grave.
‘My mum trusted them’
As the intensity of the events eased, Ms Castilho says, “the penny began to drop” about her mother’s treatment. “I started to reflect on things. I couldn’t sleep. It felt like I was rewinding a tape, realising what went wrong.”
The negligence, Ms Castilho believes, started the day Irene was sent the “Covid Kit”, as many scientists were already expressing profound misgivings about the drugs, and continued as doctors prescribed unproven medicine instead of opting for more costly intensive care treatment.
“My mum really trusted [Prevent Senior]. She was anxious and would ask me to call them to find out when her ‘Covid Kit’ would arrive,” she said. “She could never have imagined that she was a guinea pig in their hands, and that she would soon die.”
Now, more deaths are being blamed on the company’s medical practices.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, President Bolsonaro has frequently advocated unproven treatments and cures against Covid
A Senate inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic heard allegations that the company was trying to endorse unproven treatments associated with President Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly dismissed Covid-19.
A former patient, 65-year-old Tadeu Frederico de Andrade, testified that he, too, was given the “Covid Kit” and treated with flutamide. His family says doctors wanted to move him to palliative care without their consent. “I’m a survivor of this macabre plot,” he said.
Bruna Morato, a lawyer representing 12 whistleblowers, told the inquiry doctors were threatened and fired if they disagreed with the unproven drugs. The firm is also accused of failing to mention Covid-19 deaths in patients’ records to hide the scale of the problem.
Prevent Senior said in statements to the BBC that Irene and Tadeu “received every clinical and medical support” and that the company never adopted treatments contrary to medical ethics or aimed at reducing costs.
It said allegations levelled against it at the Senate inquiry were “unfounded” and “a true public lynching”. The company has also said it never fired employees because of their technical convictions.
Pedro Batista, the company’s CEO, admitted to senators that Covid-19 was removed from patients’ records after two weeks, because they were no longer infectious. But he denied testing unproven drugs on patients without their knowledge.
The company is under investigation by federal prosecutors, the police, and a separate inquiry by São Paulo state lawmakers.
The case, which has caused outrage in the country, is mired in political controversy, with the federal government being blamed for lax rules on Covid-19 treatment.
The inquiry also heard the Bolsonaro administration had ignored repeated offers by drug firm Pfizer to sell it 70 million doses of its vaccine. Next Tuesday, the investigation’s final report will be made public, and it could accuse the president of serious misconduct in his response to the pandemic, which has resulted in more than 600,000 deaths.
Ms Castilho says her family feels “devastated”.
“The day my dad died, he was supposed to be given the first dose of vaccine,” she says. “I lost my mum and my dad to a virus for which a vaccine already existed.
“Denying science kills, but when you think of all the money and interests involved… I can’t remain silent.”
* Vinicius Lemos in São Paulo contributed to this report
BBC- Chile’s opposition has launched a bid to impeach President Sebastián Piñera over possible irregularities in the sale of a mining company, after details emerged in the Pandora Papers leak.
Mr Piñera used “his office for personal business”, congressman Tomas Hirsch said as he presented the accusation in the lower house of Congress.
The president is accused of selling the firm to a friend in a deal contingent on a favourable regulatory decision.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
The revelations come from the Pandora Papers, a leak of 11.9 million documents. The files say President Piñera sold the Dominga mine, a copper and iron project in an environmentally sensitive area, to a childhood friend in 2010, nine months after he had taken office.
The leaks suggest the last payment in the deal was conditional on not establishing an area of environmental protection where the mining company operated, a demand of environmental groups.
The decision would be taken by the Chilean government which eventually decided against the introduction of the protection.
After the revelations, the Chilean presidency said President Piñera, a billionaire businessman, had no role in, or information about, the sale of the mining project, and that he had not been involved in the management of any company for more than 12 years.
The president himself has rejected any irregularities, saying the details of the deal were examined in a judicial investigation in 2017 that cleared him of wrongdoing.
But last week, Chile’s public prosecutor’s office said it would investigate the allegations against the president.
Opposition congressman Jaime Naranjo, one of the authors of the impeachment proceeding, said President Piñera had “openly infringed the Constitution… seriously compromising the honour of the nation”.
The president has not commented yet on the impeachment bid.
The opposition-controlled Chamber of Deputies will now hold a vote on whether to approve or reject the impeachment process. The move comes ahead of presidential and legislative elections in November. President Piñera is not a candidate.
The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington DC which has led one of the the biggest ever global investigations.
More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the most powerful people on the planet.
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