The report in the Kaieteur News quite rightly drew stout rebuttal from Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who said categorically that there is no reported case of the deadly disease in Guyana at the moment. He added that the report under the banner headline ‘Guyana finds first case of suspected SARS’ is “absolute nonsense”, “misleading” and “untrue”.

We view with a great degree of ease and satisfaction the Minister’s confirmation that senior officials from his Ministry visited the ‘patient’ and have determined that her illness “ is not even close to SARS”. This is good news for all Guyana and everybody should cooperate in whatever way possible to help guard against this deadly menace.

The people are of the view that no one should aim at creating a panic situation, for which we are not geared.

The erroneous report is nothing short of carelessness and recklessness and smacks at the very root of responsible and professional journalism, something gravely lacking in certain sections of the media today.

We however acknowledge that because SARS is indeed a fast killer and the mounting death toll of victims have caused worldwide attention and anxiety, we should spare no effort in Guyana to guard against the dreaded disease which has already killed almost 300 people and infected some 5,000 in more that 20 countries since it emerged in southern China late last year.

We believe that there must be complete mobilisation of all our health resources, including agencies and other bodies in an all-out assault against the menace.

We support all efforts and mechanisms put in place by the authorities in Guyana to guard against SARS. The press also has a very important role to play in any campaign against the disease, and we believe that certain sections of the press should approach the matter in a responsible manner, especially when it comes to informing and sensitizing the people about vital issues, like SARS for instance.

We believe that the function of the press is very high. It is almost holy. It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which the people may know what is happening. We also believe that to misstate the news amounts to a breach of trust.

We feel that the news report as it appeared in the Kaieteur News, apart from raising alarm to our population, could also have some deleterious spin-offs and negatively influence our tourism industry which is set to take off.

People are of the view that if the nation is confronted with any matter that could possibly take on alarming proportions, any disease for that matter, the entire country should adopt a common approach to confront the scourge.