“[…] Sometimes I drive to work, sometimes I travel. I have to always keep praying because, honestly, not every day I would feel like going. I have to keep talking to myself and say: ‘This is not for you; this is for the patients. They need help and you have …
Read More »Vaneisa: The waiting game—the anxious mental strain of public sector visits
Not long ago, a couple of letters to the editor appeared where the writers complained about extremely long waits at public health institutions. I had immediately thought that this is why I walk with a book whenever I have to go to any institution, public or private. But then I …
Read More »Noble: Dr Picou’s galling treatment and auditor general impasse reveals T&T’s darkening mood
“It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness, and a mood of helplessness prevail.” Lech Walesa, 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. As a country, we are becoming more shameless. The scant regard that the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) staff displayed to Dr David Picou is galling. …
Read More »Dear Editor: Women’s groups should lead push to improve neonatal wards
“[…] Women are the ones most directly involved. They bear most of the physical and psychological trauma of parent/motherhood during pregnancy—unlike the male who has the option to opt out at any time. “[…] Does this tragedy not expose the lack of attention given to a most vulnerable group charged …
Read More »Daly Bread: Defining public healthcare management
Regrettably, sharp comment is invited by the recent verbal tactics that the Minister of Health deployed in response to the deaths of seven babies at the Port of Spain General Hospital between 4 and 7 April, connected with a bacterial outbreak there. Perhaps the Minister is not aware that there …
Read More »Daly Bread: 30 years of ducking blame; as deaths continue in our hospitals and streets
Eleven babies have died in the space of a three-month period in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the Port of Spain General Hospital (POS General). Seven of these eleven deaths took place in less than a week during this month, reportedly the result of “an outbreak” of …
Read More »Daly Bread: Health pomposities—serve and save, don’t hector
The administration of many ministries of government is in continuous decline, while the politicians have wasted tons of money and seek to blame each other when the decline is exposed as a crisis. In that scenario, the politicians and the ministries put out paid advertisements, Facebook posts and media releases, …
Read More »Vaneisa: The last breath—an alleged victim of hospital negligence
I met the face of grief a couple of weeks ago and it has haunted me since. It was a chance encounter with someone I did not know. It isn’t quite accurate to say it was chance, because I had gone seeking his artisan services. His kiosk bore a handwritten …
Read More »Dear Editor: Children, sport and Covid-19 policy; where the T&T Govt is getting it wrong
“[…] It’s very difficult for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to hide away the fact that their Covid-19 policies severely diminished the positive role sport and physical activities play in children’s lives. “In other words, bad Covid-19 policy is literally at the heart of the increased probability [that up …
Read More »NWU: Remove RHAs’ horrendous contract system; end master-and-servant syndrome
“[…] Short-term contract labour has been in widespread use throughout the Regional Health Authorities in Trinidad and Tobago ever since the establishment of the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) in the 1990s… Short-term contract workers obviously suffer anxiety over their job security and are at a disadvantage when it comes to …
Read More »Dear Editor: Why must oil-rich T&T still depend on Cuba for nurses? And imagine if Sea Lots had boat party?
“[…] We have been bringing health personnel from Cuba for almost two decades. Would that money have not been better invested in training and remunerating our own? “One imagines the human body in Cuba is essentially the same as ours. They have built an exemplary health system under an economic …
Read More »Dear Editor: Months of missed opportunities: how Deyalsingh and his experts dropped the ball
“[…] Evidence suggests a very strong link between Covid-19 and obesity. In March 2021, the Independent, Sky News and Reuters published an article which highlighted that 90% of Covid-19 deaths were in countries with high obesity rates (in 2018, T&T was ranked 6th in childhood obesity in the Caribbean at …
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