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“The airstrip was lighted by cars. There were multiple cars…who put on their headlights so the plane could see how to land. There was lots of activity on the airstrip itself… There were two other aircraft on the ground and we were trying to acquire a vehicle to take us to the Mahdia hospital. The first vehicle I approached was a Police vehicle and the driver offered to take us over (Mahdia Hospital),” he said.

Upon his arrival in Mahdia, Dr Rajkumar told the Commission, which is chaired by Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh, that he was between the hospital and the airstrip, where he assessed the victims.

Based on their conditions, some of the students were evacuated to the city while others remained at the Mahdia hospital. And while only some suffered burns, there were others who were treated for smoke inhalation.

Dr Rajkumar further pointed out that the situation on the ground was impacted due to space constraints.

He told the Commission that there were a number of girls, who were not injured but were “cramped” in a room since they had nowhere to stay. This, he said impacted the response of the medical team.

“There were about 10 to 12 students in a room and there were people going in and checking on them that did not need to be there. They had no injuries. The problem was they were brought to the hospital, their dorm was burnt down. They had nowhere to go sleep, they had no clothing, nothing. So that was a very stressful event for them,” Dr Rajkumar said.

“To have them in an environment where patient care was happening actively was impacting them as well as the function of the medical staff,” he added.

As such, Dr Rajkumar said he intervened and luckily, there was a COVID center in the hospital compound which was not in use at the time and measures were put in place to accommodate the displaced girls there.

A similar account was provided by Captain Learie Barclay who told the Commission that the chaos on the ground did not deter him or other first responders.

Public hearings into the CoI continued on Friday afternoon.

“Spending time with your child is very important, from the time of birth bonding happens and that bond must last for the rest of the lives of the parents and children that bond is made stronger when a child feels comfortable in confiding to their parents,” Dr Persaud posited.

However, she explained that the ministry exists to help parents with ensuring that they are equipped to protect their children. She said through partnership between the ministry, families and the other relevant stakeholders, every child in Guyana can become protected and taken care of.

Her sentiments were shared by the UNICEF Deputy Representative for Guyana and Suriname, Irfan Akhtar. According to Akhtar, public awareness of all the programme and hotlines available for the protection of children is necessary.

“This is important to ensure that every child is protected, every child is respected and every child is an environment which is free from fear and violence.

“We know that we cannot ensure the protection of children alone, we need a multi-sectoral approach and we need a partnership with the different sectors,” Akhtar said.

The massive campaign dubbed was launched in 2021 as part of efforts to curb the high number of reported child abuse cases. It has expanded to target child labour, abuse of children in every form and ensuring parents, guardians and the public are aware of the dangerous consequences abuse have on the development of children.