Man protests condition of brother; Says MASA refusing service
The protest is ongoing in front of the Tortola MASA office in Road Town in the area of the Market Square.
The man claimed that his brother, Gordon Callender—who was born in Trinidad—is being refused services by MASA to transport him back to his homeland.
Patient registered in Tortola - MASA
His brother—a retired teacher—is a patient at Peebles Hospital, and has diabetes in addition to being an amputee.
The brother claimed that he has been lobbying for MASA to airlift his bother to Trinidad where he will receive better services and be close to family.
However, according to the bother David, MASA is saying that the patient is registered in Tortola, hence, they cannot transport him back to Trinidad.
However, MASA is offering to take the brother out the territory out of courtesy, on a commercial flight if he can find the strength to travel that way.
Our newsroom paid a visit to the office of MASA this morning to inquire about the protestor’s claims over his brother, however, they had no comment.
30 Responses to “Man protests condition of brother; Says MASA refusing service ”
If all else fails, set up a Go-Fund-Me account and tell us how to find it. Mr Callender has countless past students.
There were other problems with MASA too. They didn’t even want to pay for the accompanying family member cost for return trip to country of origin. Eventually they did.
I must state that the health insurance had agreed to cover the US care. They would have covered transport, but because we had MASA they would not cover the transport.
Another thing to note. MASA does not return you on their plane. They wil pay for commercial return flight.
Read your contracts, ask questions and upgrade if possible. But then there is still another hurdle. Most insurers in the BVI, including NHI will only approve for care outside of the BVI at the nearest facilities in their network which are PR, USVI or some other Caribbean island if it’s available there. You don’t seem to have a choice. Problem all around. We just have pray that all goes well.
Mr Calendar, my prayers and heart goes out to you. After all your hard work and dedication to this territory, government can at least step in and assist.
However, his home or domicile has been Tortola and that is the point.