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…cites inability to secure insurance for aircraft
Remote Area Medical (RAM) , a medical volunteer mission which has been operating in Guyana for several decades, has closed its operations here, citing its inability to secure insurance for its aircraft as the primary reason for its closure.
Based primarily in the Rupununi and Region Eight area, RAM operated a free, year-round, air ambulance program in Guyana since 2001, providing emergency medical transportation to villagers in need of immediate health care services.
The Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) in the past utilised the Lethem hospital in the Rupununi to conduct surgeries, including hysterectomies.
In a recent letter to the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) , RAM Pilot Coordinator, Dick Stoops noted that the company has been unable to locate an insurance company willing to insure its aircraft under the circumstances in which the company operates.
He recalled since February 2001, RAM has provided an air ambulance service in Regions 8 and 9 with its base of operations in Lethem. “Over the years, RAM has provided life saving and pain relieving services to untold thousands of Guyanese,”he added.
Stoops said in August 2020 the liability insurance on its Cessna U-206 aircraft which bears registration, N6HQ, expired and the insurance company declined to renew its insurance policy. This signalled bad news for the firm.
“Therefore, with deep regret, the RAM Board of Directors has decided to terminate our air ambulance services in Guyana and to place N6HQ up for sale in Guyana. The aircraft is currently located at the Wings Aviation ramp at Ogle Airport and is undergoing an Annual Inspection,” RAM said.
Remote Area Medical expressed appreciation to the GCAA for its support over the past twenty years.
In August 2018, Stan Brock, the founder of RAM died in Knoxville, Tennessee in the United States at the age of 82.
Brock travelled to Georgetown, British Guiana in 1952 at the age of 17. He found work at the Dadanawa Ranch, managing the world’s largest cattle ranch operation encompassing 4,000-square miles of rain forest and savannah. Dadanawa at that time contained over 30,000 Longhorn cattle and wild horses within the ranch.
He later became a certified bush pilot and it was during those early years that his vision for a medical outreach started , following an injury in the Rupununi.
After achieving national fame, Brock founded Remote Area Medical – in 1985—keeping his promise to the Wapishana nation in Guyana.
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