Thousands of Guyanese flocked the National Park last evening to witness the hoisting of the Golden Arrowhead on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the country’s independence.The annual event produced a fusion of cultural and military performances.An estimated 500 children were drawn from various dance schools and organisations to display the country’s past, present and future.Before the arrival of President Donald Ramotar and his wife, Deolatchmee, the crowd was treated to one of the most interactive entertainment programmes in recent times.Performances were by the flamboyant Charmain Blackman, who generated energy in the crowd with her cantankerous hit “Gi dem mo fi talk.”Adrian Dutchin had the crowd singing to all of his hit tunes,Cheap NFL Jerseys Online, including the infectious “I am a Guyanese.”There were also performances by the finalists of GT&T’s dance competition “Feel the beat.” And there was the Nyrityageet Dance Troup just out of an annual stage presentation to perform one of the dances it presented to the nation recently.Top calypsonians Young Bill Rogers and Teneisha DeFreitas, along with soca queen Vanilla,NFL Jerseys China, added to the night’s entertainment.With the arrival of the President and First Lady,Cheap NFL Jerseys, the Yoruba singers,Jerseys From China, who are celebrating their 41st anniversary,Wholesale Jerseys, performed a medley of songs. This was followed by the Region Ten choir the winners of the National Choir competition.Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport,Nike NFL Jerseys China, Dr Frank Anthony introduced the President and he gave a speech that was about 30 minutes.That was followed by the cultural performance and a display by the Army and Police. There was no announcement of national awards.President Ramotar then witnessed the hoisting of the National Flag at midnight.

…consumers to get relief from WednesdayBy Fareeza HaniffFollowing weeks of continuous power outages on the West Coast of Demerara and on the East Bank of Essequibo, consumers are expected to get significant relief as the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) is currently working to increase the generation capacity at its Versailles Power Station, West Bank Demerara.At a press conference held yesterday at its news office in Duke Street, Kingston, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL, Bharrat Dindyal, told media operatives that since August 11th,Cheap NFL Jerseys, the power demand on the West Coast has exceeded the allowable capacity on the feeder.CEO of GPL, Bharrat Dindyal However, he noted that the situation has now further deteriorated, in that power demand during the day requires the use of 5Megawatts (MW) of generating capacity at Versailles rather than the usual 3MW.He explained that since last Sunday evening, the Versailles Power Station has been unable to supply the peak power demand on the West Coast.“In fact, the power demand increases so rapidly during the evening peak that the entire West Coast has had to be interrupted initially,” Dindyal said.According to the CEO, the ultimate solution to the problem is to extend the 69KV transmission system to deliver bulk power to both Versailles and Edinburgh.This would eventually allow the West Coast to be served by three feeders rather than one,Cheap Jerseys From China, which is what occurs currently. This solution, Dindyal said,Jerseys From China, is part of the transmission plan that would be implemented with Chinese financing in 2010.Meanwhile,Jerseys From China, to deal with the present situation, and to provide a short-term solution, GPL will increase the generating capacity at Versailles, while they would also reinforce the connection with Garden-of-Eden to allow greater power transfer.In this regard, Dindyal said that by Wednesday, GPL is expected to relocate a 1.6MW Caterpillar Unit from Sophia to increase the generating capacity at Versailles to 7.5MW and by Thursday, the company is also expected to return a 1.2 MW Cat Unit to service.“The total capacity of 8.7MW would allow us to meet the peak demand on the West Coast,” he stated.Dindyal added that in order to ensure that additional power can be sent from Garden-of-Eden to reinforce generation capacity at Versailles,China Jerseys, voltage-regulating equipment will be installed at Vriesland, on the West Bank of Demerara, by Friday.“We will also install a third voltage regulator at Leonora to increase the voltage boost capability there from 10% to 15% by the same date. In addition, increase the capability of the voltage regulator at Leonora and also increase the generation capacity at Versailles by 2.8 megawatts. It will have an immediate impact and the situation will improve.”Dindyal cautioned that while these interventions will greatly improve GPL’s ability to meet the peak demand on the West Coast, consumers must be aware that the power company still has to contend with the capacity of the lone feeder serving the area being exceeded.In this regard, he urged for consumers to conserve electricity and reduce demand.The CEO noted that during the day, it was possible for GPL to power the entire West Demerara with about 3MW capacity, which was supported through assistance from the link at Garden of Eden.However, since last Sunday this has changed and according to Dindyal,NBA Jerseys From China, it was observed yesterday morning that with three machines online, which amounted to 4MW, GPL was unable to supply the power on the West Coast.“We understand the situation in that we are going through a very dry spell and we are seeing a very significant increase in demand during the day.”

Cardiological-related ailments are among the most challenging health problems facing the local health sector, and according to Head of the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI), Dr Gary Stephens, the root cause of this state-of-affairs could be aptly analysed with a study.According to the doctor, during an interview with this newspaper,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, heart cases have a certain mix of a number of factors including genetics, race, and even diet.Dr Gary StephensDr Stephens has on a number of occasions alluded to the fact that the CHI list of cardiological patients that are yet to be attended to is seemingly inexhaustible as cases are added constantly.He pointed out, though, that to him it is not unusual,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic, since Guyana has a similar population mix as many countries with a similar heart disease rate.“Trinidad has about 1.6 million people and they have three heart surgery programmes going at the moment. They told me just recently they have a waiting list as well,” Dr Stephens related.However, the Cardiac Surgeon highlighted the fact that all of the cardiologists that he has brought to CHI have expressed surprise at the extent of the disease here. In addition, the doctor observed that the patients here often do not fit the regular profile of heart patients as is known in the United States where he is based.“The majority of the heart cases we see are younger and are not obese as we are accustomed to seeing…so there may be some genetics involved and this has to be figured out. I think it would make the basis for a great study once we have enough numbers.”Accordingly, Dr Stephens said that efforts are being made by CHI to carefully chart all of the patients who are operated on to find whether there is a common thread that is specific to Guyana.“If we find evidence of factors specific to Guyana we can go out and educate people of perhaps the need for a change in their lifestyles or to explain to them that there is a certain group that may be at higher risk than another.”And though it may take a number of years to make such determinations,Wholesale Jerseys China, Dr Stephens said that plans are already on stream,Cheap Jerseys Online, even as he speculated that the process may take a number of years before realistic data can be derived.In the meantime, CHI is poised to offer the best of cardiological services to the local public at a sustained reduced cost.During the past weekend, CHI conducted a number of operations, including about seven stenting procedures which saw the utilisation of the latest Medtronic Stent which is currently not even available in the US,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, Dr Stephens said.“It is big in Europe and is the latest model of stent available. It is drug-eluting and each one costs us about US$1200. With the cost of shipping and everything else the actual cost is a bit more…And I must confess that the deal we offer is not available in any other part of the world,” he insisted.According to Dr Stephens, although it is difficult to maintain the reduced cost, CHI at its inception had made a commitment to the government to keep the cost down and that was the whole selling point.”“We are struggling to do it but we have not been cutting corners, we have been delivering a quality service to the people here. If you get a stent in Guyana you can be sure it is the same stent you will get in any other part of the world,NFL Jerseys Outlet,” Dr Stephens asserted.(Sharmain Cornette)