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  • 6 months ago
Health Minister Dr. Lackram Bodoe accompanied by Dr. Rishad Seecheran, Minister in the Ministry of Health and other officials led by Health Secretary Dr Faith Brebnor visited the Scarborough General Hospital on Friday.

This visit comes as the hospital ended its emergency mode on Friday.

Elizabeth Williams was there and has this report.
Transcript
00:00I will certainly be focused on working with the Secretary for Health, the Secretary of
00:05Health, to work in whatever way, I as the Minister and my colleague here as the Minister
00:11in the Ministry, to assist me going in whatever way as far as the health sector is concerned.
00:17And I do believe that when the Honourable Prime Minister makes a promise, she's well
00:20known for keeping her word.
00:22In fact, that's the reason that she's here in a second term, and she has reminded me
00:28although we are just two months into office, please, you haven't visited Tobago as yet.
00:34So that's part of the reason as well, in addition to the Secretary's kind invitation.
00:38The Health Minister and his team officially toured the Scarborough General Hospital on Friday,
00:44commenting on the emergency mode of the hospital being lifted.
00:48Dr. Bodo explained.
00:50Well, I believe the Secretary would have mentioned that it was just a precautionary measure,
00:55and we want to give the population the assurance that I think when you go into emergency mode,
01:00the first thing that comes to mind is whether there is some particular reason.
01:04I am assured that it was just a matter of extra numbers without any particular problem that could not have been treated.
01:15The Health Minister said he was pleased with the operations of the Scarborough General Hospital,
01:21which has over 100 beds.
01:24Well, I'm very pleased that the hospital is functioning very well.
01:28As you know, this hospital would have been opened in 2012, thereabouts,
01:32under the previous People's Partnership government,
01:34and I'm very pleased that it has been maintained.
01:38Quite, almost all of the facilities I saw and services working,
01:42and of particular interest would have been the state of the cardiac catheterization lab.
01:49Of course, in addition to the routine services that are offered to Tobago,
01:53we also, of course, want to ensure that, you know, all manner of health care is provided,
01:59including cardiac services.
02:01I'm aware that over the years, over the past few years,
02:05I'm secretary, that some of your patients would have been transported to Trinidad,
02:11and of course, the idea is to try and provide as many services as possible.
02:15The Scarborough General Hospital officially ended its emergency mode on Friday,
02:20following a successful 48-hour intervention period.
02:24The facility has now safely resumed operations, normal operations,
02:30as such, the temporary hold on elective surgeries was also lifted with immediate effect.
02:36But while services returned to normal, the TRHA continues to encourage individuals
02:41with non-life-threatening conditions to access care through their nearest health center
02:47in order to reduce congestion at the hospital and ensure efficient service delivery.
02:53So after today, we would sit down and we would look at where the health system is.
02:57As you know, my aim is to ensure that we provide the best quality service to the people of Tobago.
03:03The minister has committed to collaborating with us.
03:06We have spoken in private, and I would keep those conversations in private for now about
03:10what some of those projects could be.
03:11And you guys know that I usually announce when we are ready to announce.
03:15So, but we do have the commitment of the government of Trinidad and Tobago to work
03:19with the Tobago House of Assembly, and I think that is what is critical.
03:22Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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