By Carlisle Jno Baptiste
People are expressing growing concerns about the number of vagrants/ mentally ill patients in the city of Roseau, and are creating a serious problem as they defecate anywhere and are always seen eating from the garbage bins.
At a recent press conference of the Prime Minister, the question was posed to him from Nature Isle News (NIN) about plans by his government to assist the mentally ill, most of them young boys, in Roseau.
In his response to the question, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit explained that his government has had discussions with “stakeholders, the private sector, and civil society concerning this situation however, that it is going to require societal efforts to address the issue.”
“We cannot just take them off the streets because you have to respect the people’s human rights and their freedom of movement, even if they may have a medical condition…I recall a case where we tried to help a youngster, and the family appeared and wanted to sue the state for taking a person for medical treatment,” the Prime Minister stated.
“So, as a government, we have to be very careful with this He added…so, if we try to work with families, it will be to help fashion a rehabilitation plan for those individuals that we know of, because we require all stakeholders to play their part in this,” he said.
Skerrit went on to state that these individuals need to be “assisted to seek medical care, treatment, and rehabilitation for whatever challenges they may be suffering from.”
“I believe the government has a part to play, but the rest of society has a role to play in this. The family, the church. and it should not be from the perspective of well, these people are affecting my business it should be looked at from a humanitarian standpoint…if we look at it from a humanitarian standpoint, I think that we can assist, but if we just want to get rid of a problem from an economic standpoint, I think we will find some challenges,” he remarked.
According to Skerrit, the government has made some allocations at the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) for these individuals, as well as provisions for them at the Grotto Home for the Homeless.
“The Grotto Home helps by allowing them to come in, grab a shower, and have something to eat, but you cannot keep them, you cannot force them to stay.
But even when we tried to do this, we came to many challenges because many families were resistant,” he said.
While admitting that “there are families who are certainly helpless in trying to find a solution to their loved one’s predicament,” I believe that it’s going to require everybody to play their part,” Skerrit stated.