“She have the flu,” he said, when I asked about his daughter, who sounded weak and listless on the phone. Her symptoms? Fever, body aches and headache. I told him it sounded like dengue, and he should probably get her tested. It baffled me that no one in the household …
Read More »Daly Bread: Chronic evasion of accountability
The report of the investigating team of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) into the death in April this year of seven babies in less than a week in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Port of Spain General Hospital (POSGH) has been delivered. In clear terms it …
Read More »Daly Bread: Sorting reality from the spin
I was brought up in a household that loathed pretentiousness. Had my mother, Celia, been alive she would have been wryly amused at the buss pipe in the new Ministry of Health multi-million dollar palace. The uncontrolled gushing of water can be seen as symbolic of the gushes of words …
Read More »Daly Bread: The cracked facades, as we head towards general elections
Last week I closed by referring to our democracy’s dysfunctional concentration on personalities and tribal loyalties. This dysfunction acts as a distraction and an excuse for our politicians having to propose policy-based resolutions to our problems. It is a dysfunction with a long history. In July 2003 I asserted as …
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: Game of blood; T&T needs empirical data on blood collection
Obtaining blood when persons need it can be a harrowing experience. Very recently, I felt it vicariously while a comrade urgently required blood. Eighteen months ago, on 30 August 2022, the Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh MP issued a message concerning blood donation, which created misgivings in some of those …
Read More »More transmissible, not necessarily more severe; new Covid-19 strain, JN.1, reaches T&T
Trinidad and Tobago recorded its first case of new Covid-19 variant, JN.1, according to Carpha today. At present, global health bodies consider JN.1 to be more transmissible than its predecessors but not more severe, while there are no known new symptoms. On 22 December 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) …
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 »Health Ministry warns public not to buy specific Kinder chocolate products, after salmonella scare
‘[…] Voluntary Product Recall: Kinder Happy Moments Milk Chocolate and Crispy Wafers Assortment, Kinder Mix Chocolate Treats Basket, Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Egg, Kinder Egg Hunt kit and Kinder Schokobons…’ The following is a media statement from the Ministry of Health: The Ministry of Health (MoH), out of an abundance of caution, …
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 »Sport included in safe zone policy; Govt gives green light in time for mid-week WI U-19 fixture
Sport is back—but only if you have taken the jab. Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe confirmed today, via email, that sport has been included in the Government’s Safe Zone policy. It means that, like cinemas, restaurants and bars, national governing bodies and ‘sport serving bodies’ can resume …
Read More »