HGP Nightly News – Survivors of the MV Barima disaster and relatives of the victims will soon be able to arrange confidential online counselling sessions as the government prepares to launch a national psychosocial-support platform this week.
Human Services and Social Security Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud announced the initiative, named EMBRACE, during an appearance on the Starting Point podcast.
The platform will allow users to view available counsellors and specialists, select an appointment time and receive therapy through private audio or video sessions.
“It’s going to be a system where persons can request a time. They will see the list that is available, their specialities, and they can have confidential therapy and counselling from any one of these persons,” Persaud explained.
The service will include Guyanese professionals living overseas who have volunteered to assist.
According to the minister, EMBRACE underwent testing last week. It will initially be reserved for MV Barima survivors and affected relatives before becoming available to the wider public.
Details concerning eligibility verification, operating hours, data protection and arrangements for people without reliable internet access were not outlined in the announcement.
Persaud said the ministry had formally requested assistance from the Red Cross, United Nations agencies and other organisations. The Office of the UN Resident Coordinator and the Pan American Health Organization have already responded, she added.
The ministry is also assessing the immediate financial needs of households that lost their sole breadwinner in the tragedy.
Persaud said that assistance could cover food, transportation and support for children and elderly parents. Each household will reportedly be assessed individually because its circumstances and level of dependency may differ.
“If it’s a breadwinner, we need to make sure they have food support, we need to make sure the children are taken care of, and we need to make sure that the parents have that kind of support,” she said.
The government has maintained that this assistance is separate from compensation. It is being provided through the HEART initiative, President Irfaan Ali’s framework for coordinating material, emotional and spiritual support following national tragedies.
Persaud said the Office of the First Lady would oversee assistance relating specifically to affected children and their parents.
She also acknowledged the prolonged uncertainty facing families whose relatives remain missing, describing their experience as a continuing and particularly painful form of grief.
The minister appealed for empathy and urged that families’ suffering not be exploited amid criticism of the government’s handling of the tragedy. She also invited private-sector organisations to support the relief effort.
The MV Barima capsized on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. Authorities estimated that 179 passengers and crew members were aboard the state-operated vessel.
Seventy-six people were rescued and 73 bodies recovered, while approximately 30 people remain unaccounted for.
