Ministry silent over bio-waste dumping

| 11/05/2018 | 58 Comments

(CNS): The health ministry is again remaining silent in the face of yet another major problem regarding waste management. Just over a week after the deputy governor apologised on behalf of the ministry for garbage collection failings, revelations that a broken incinerator on Cayman Brac has led to untreated bio-medical waste from Faith Hospital being dumped openly on the Brac landfill has been met with silence. But Ezzard Miller, who leads the opposition and is its spokesperson on health issues, said he was appalled that this was happening. 

The independent member for North Side said he was “outraged”. He said there were no possible excuses or plausible reasons why the incinerator has been down for almost a month and that it should have been fixed within two days, given the far-reaching consequences of not properly dealing with hospital waste. He pointed to the obvious dangers and public health risk when it comes to bio-medical waste being dumped in an open place when it may contain needles and other potentially contagious waste.

Miller said this was yet another example of the continuing incompetence being shown by the health ministry that appears to be plagued by continuing problems. He asked how much longer the chief officer could survive given the mounting scandals at the ministry.

Following reports in the Cayman Compass last week that a reporter on their team had seen and photographed the waste being dumped, CNS contacted the minister for health and health ministry management for comment, but after several days officials have still not responded to what is a clear and obvious public interest issue.

As in the case of past scandals, including the continued mystery surrounding the absence of DEH Director Roydell Carter, who has now been on some form of enforced but unexplained paid leave for some six months, the ministry and Health Minister Dwayne Seymour consistently fail to respond to questions and answer to the people who fund their operations.

The Department of Environmental Health had reportedly told the Compass reporter that a trench had been dug for the waste while the incinerator was down, but it appears that the waste was still being dumped randomly.

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Category: Environmental Health, Health

Comments (58)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Dear CNS: Speaking of toxic, how is it possible that Bruce Blake is back at the controls of CIFA? At last check he had been arrested, and suspended from CIFA/FIFA under a criminal probe, yet just last week he was sending out letters to Cayman athletes and parents with his gmail address. Did we miss a chapter?

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Democracy, the deaf leading the blind.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Every government is rotten to the core and you should not be surprised.

  4. West Bay Premier says:

    We have to remember that the dump cannot be moved to Bodden Town , UNLESS the District Elected Representative agree with it being moved into that District .
    So who is trying to get the dump into Bodden Town ? Not Mr Seymour he ran on keeping it out of BT .

  5. Anonymous says:

    Well look, when the brightest you got for Health Minister is BoBo Seymour, wtf do you expect? Seriously. Could he even pass a Year 3 exam? Methinks not. Then you keep voting in the same pathetic characters starting with McCheese McKeeva, McBobo McLaughlin, Captain McFried Onions, and Buzzard McMiller, to name a few. Folks, give your heads a shake…doing the same thing over again and expecting different results is the definition of idiocy. Here’s a hint, vote in some smart people who are willing to be held accountable. The Dump has been a problem for 30+ years now, and you keep voting in the same McNuts who have spent Tens of Thousands of Dollars to “study the problem”, and show nothing in return. I can’t blame Juliana O’Bummer from continuing to do little over the years that she’s been in office; you pay them huge sums of money to give you zilch in return. I’d have them all arrested and tried for fraud, for making promises that they’re not keeping. Didn’t McBobo promise to cut gun crime to 60% or whatever? Did he? Here, let me pull out a statistic out of my a$$. By 2150 every Caymanian is going to be a billionaire! Vote me in and I’ll make sure that happens.

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  6. Debbie does Dullards says:

    Keep the gate gate closed!? Excuse me. Ahhhm.
    You owe all Brackers an apology.
    You should keep your mouth shut instead of your gate.
    So you have no liquor down in GC?
    Everywhere has the good, bad and ugly! We Brackers have brains and run most of GC businesses!
    Everywhere has problems and we have challenges like everywhere else.
    Please do a little studying too Bo Bo so you can write a few grammatically correct sentences.

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    • Keep the gate closed says:

      Hey. Theres free rum and 345 at the park today. He giving it away again.

      Go get boy. Get it. Get it.

      LMAO

  7. Keep the gate closed says:

    Hey, its the Brac man. These people over there only care about one thing.

    Alcohol, Alcohol and even more Alcohol.

    Poor fools. Just like the Indians, the Ministers over there keep the local population liquored up so they can be dumb enough to vote them back in.

    Only place in the world where you can credit at the liquor store.

    Hell the same people that complained about the statues on the South Side are the same ones that open the liquor store at 6am, all day Sunday illegally and even hang out at the Ministers park everyday handing out free nips of bad rum.

    Do you really expect anything better? Really.

    At least they out there by themselves and can be quarantined when the preverbial **it hits the fan.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    They want it to fail so it can be privatised its plain as day.

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  9. James says:

    Just a suggestion, you know the oil drums the one that they use to jerk chicken, have a couple of them on hand and just burn the bags. Does this country lack persons with common sense or is this just another ploy to obtain millions of dollars from the public purse to purchase a new incenarator?

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    • West Bay Premier says:

      James , that’s too smart of a thought for these millionaire politicians and Ministers.
      They believe that that method is too third worldish and they will not bend that low to dispose of biowaste , when they can spend a $1 million to do it .

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      • Anonymous says:

        I’m glad you two muppets aren’t in charge. I hope you are down wind of it when they light the fire. What a stupid idea!

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        • James says:

          So what the alternative? Leave there and have it contaminate the water? Remember they already got feces in the water. You want the other biological and antibiotic in there too? SMH?

        • West Bay Premier says:

          8 :25 am , It is a much smarter idea , than leaving the biowaste open for birds , chickens , and you and animals to eat up . Since there’s no other way to dispose of it the incinerator is broken down and waiting for parts .

        • Anonymous says:

          Yea muppet, cause doing nothing about it and just letting it leech into your drinking water and soil is so much of a much better idea.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Says the genius Mr. Anonymous…..

  10. Anonymous says:

    It is not about corruption, it is about ineptitude. And about indifference. 11comments? LGBT issue generates hundreds comments. Yet nobody seems to care about their own health. There should be zero cancer rate in this country. Yet children are being born with cancer. Still nobody cares. The depressing thing is nothing will change. What do you do with incompetence on the government level in a country of 50k people? In a country where some ministers qualifications won’t get them an entry level clerical jobs in a real world. The wheel is turning because of professional expats and consultants. It would’ve been a total chaos without their expertise.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Zero cancer is a pipe dream

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    • West Bay Premier says:

      Anonymous 4 :03 pm , think seriously about the last two sentences in your comment.
      The Islands is in chaos after spending millions of dollars on consultant expertise.

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  11. GOAB 4th Flr says:

    What will it take for DG Franz Manderson to fire or severely sanction the Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn?
    Perhaps the time has come for the new Governor Choudhury to intervene as the Head of the Civil Service and start holding senior staff accountable as the DG seems incapable of doing that part of the job.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Why is everybody up in arms about the incinerator in CB out for a month? The one in Little Cayman has been out for YEARS?
    Does DEH know that Little Cayman has a spare garbage truck in Little Cayman, I believe it is stored at PWD. It is in great shape, would actually be running if DVES only would send one small part that they originally sent wrong, and I am talking YEARS ago.
    Roydell, any comments?

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  13. Diogenes says:

    The Premier and his Ministers and councilors are always around for a photo-op and to take credit (demolition of the former Cayman Airways building today for instance and many others)
    But can’t respond to the people of the Cayman islands after “several days”
    They could at least have the decency to put out a press release or use that god forsaken propaganda channel they call CIG TV

    “Good Governance”
    I could find more responsible persons in a primary school

    Diogenes

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  14. Say it like it is says:

    Maybe if we had a few status holders in Government, things would improve.People originally of non British ethnic origin are well represented in Parliament and in the senior ranks of Government in the UK.

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    • Anonymous says:

      nope..we live in land where the best and brightest in society are excluded from elections….
      welcome to wonderland

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  15. Anonymous says:

    statutory nuissance? just like old glass house was, when it was ovvupied??

  16. Anonymous says:

    This happened at the GT landfill back in 2007. Piles of clinical waste, including sharps, were dumped round the broken incinerator. The reason I know this is because RCIPS used that facility to burn drugs and we ended up stacking one load in the burner with a load of scrap timber and pouring diesel over it to make a bonfire. Bottom line – DEH couldn’t keep a bicycle running let alone fairly complex waste disposal equipment. Not fit for purpose!

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  17. Anonymous says:

    It time for heads to roll at DEH Brac and Grand.

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  18. West Bay Premier says:

    Poor Mr. Seymour his political career has died in the garbage and biowaste scandal .
    But let us all look at this fair minded, and see that it is not only his incompetence to be blamed for his downfall . Who put Seymour Minister ? Who is his Seymour Asst ?
    I believe that Mr. Seymour was set up for failure, knowing that he couldn’t do the job , and he absolutely didn’t get no help, and it looked like he had both hands full and was wearing many hats from minister to garbage truck driver .

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Seems like corruption is at an all time high and accountability is at an all time low in government! This unity government is rotten to the core!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Treasonous! True but Treasonous!

      • Jornar says:

        Maybe Legge understated the problem! You do wonder how things can be this bad but no one ever gets held to account. Great choice between complete incompetence and corruption.

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    • Anonymous says:

      They are all incompetent, not just this government but the last as well and nobody at the ministries is accountable for their actions…jobs for life, irrespective of how stupid, corrupt or nepotistic the individual actually is…the situation gets worse daily and those in government refuse to do anything about this shambolic situation, Ezzard is just as stupid as the DEH ..its one thing bellyaching about absolutely everything but he does nothing to get things rectified or people fired because they are all his friends or supporters!
      Its about time someone showed them what professionalism actually is and stopped them behaving as if they were still at kindergarten

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, it’s just SICK!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Most of the corruption started decades ago but over time its become the norm.
      Drain the entire swamp, drop the Port Project, and put the money into other new more viable infrastructure. That includes a new multi-storey prison we’ll very soon fill up.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yeah we need to put half the civil service in it by the look of things!

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      • Anonymous says:

        1:19 pm, agreed about draining the swamp, but we need more tougher laws included corporal punishment for the criminals, so if they go to prison its so hard in there that they won’t want to go back, that would keep crime down and free up the prison.

      • Anonymous says:

        Drain the swamp starts with dart and his band of thieves

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    • Anonymous says:

      Franz Manderson is in charge of the civil service not the MLA’s. The buck stops with him

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      • Anonymous says:

        No! The elected politicians are accountable to the people ! They set Government policy! Do not let them off the hook

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Independence LMFAO!!! Great joke from all you short sighted morons!

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  21. Anonymous says:

    another bad day at the office for jon-jon…..
    caymanians elect these people so they deserve what they get…. i just feel sorry for 50% of the population with no representation who have to suffer this incompetence on a daily basis…..

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    • Anonymous says:

      When you look at who was elected and who wasnt I say we getting just what we deserve. Some people never learn

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      • Anonymous says:

        All this “I know your people” and “you are my friend so I going to vote for you even though you’re an idiot” has got to stop. I say officials should have 2 maybe 3 terms maximum then be unable to be elected in again for the same amount of time. Perhaps and just perhaps things might improve with fresh blood in.

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        • Kris Wilson says:

          That is the trouble with a democracy. The voters vote for the politicians who promise them the most. They never seem to understand that all liars are not politicians……… but all politicians are liars.

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        • Diogenes says:

          If you actually expect these MLAs to vote against their own interests and create a term limit you must not be paying attention,
          Mckeeva has already said that he supports removing the Premier’s term limit so don’t be surprised when Alden is at the foray again

          Caymanians don’t learn
          That is why we will never have a government that actually represents us

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        • Jotnar says:

          Like Austin Harris?

      • Anonymous says:

        10:03 am You are right, they too stupid to learn, that’s why fools are running this Country, remember the policitians don’t vote themselves in, the fools do. so the fools is in charge.

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    • West Bay Premier says:

      9:45 am , and Caymanians appoint these ministers too .

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    • Anonymous says:

      No sympathy for that 50%, not sorry that I’m not sorry. If you don’t like it, leave.

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      • Jotnar says:

        Yep, they may be corrupt or hopelessly incompetent but at least they are multi generational Caymanian is a perfectly valid response. As long as you don’t mind getting ripped off and having crap service. You do realise that everyone – Caymanian, non Caymanian – pays for this, right?

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      • Anonymous says:

        No taxation without representation! How about no import duties for expats? Who’s with me?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Well you must like Bio Waste in an open dump? Who knows how many rat’s and mosquito are feasting on this waste and what the impact might be?

        Do you enjoy garbage piling up in front of your house for weeks?

        Do you enjoy no fewer than 12 from the Immigration Department (The people in charge of “the other 50%)on required leave due to corruption in one form or another?

        Do you enjoy people stuffing large amounts cash in their pockets from the Turtle Farm?

        Do you enjoy the Port Director spending 100k on puffs and vases?

        Or 12:38 are you coming with us?

        Sorry you’re not sorry

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      • Anonymous says:

        And take your paycheck with them.

  22. Anonymous says:

    Would someone just go to Roydell Carter’s house and see if he’s home and ask why he hasn’t been to work this year? Or maybe better yet, put his face on a milk carton. How about it, CNS??

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