The T&T National Nurses Association is concerned about the sudden alleged decommissioning of equipment at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH). Association president Idi Stuart yesterday said hours before PAHO officials paid their first visit to the hospital to begin their probe into the recent deaths of seven babies, staff were ordered to “cease and desist” from using certain equipment. However, he said the association raised the concern hours after officials revealed the three-member PAHO investigative team on Monday. The PAHO team includes Dr Nalini Singh MD, MPH Professor Emerit ..read more

Creating a lasting impact in T&T requires the next generation of leaders to be strong leaders in a number of fields. This is what the local NGO, the Heroes Foundation, seeks to do with their Heroes Development Programme (HDP). The programme aims to instil within its participants, the essential skills needed to lead T&T into the 21st century. ANSA McAL yesterday announced that it will inject $300,000 into the NGO’s programme to cover the costs of staffing, coaching, events, and other expenses. As a result of this, more than 45 students from Marabella South, Belmont Secondary and Woodbr ..read more

With a history going back to 2005, the gas-to-liquids plant located on the compound of the mothballed Petrotrin refinery compound in Pointe-a-Pierre, has had a troubled and controversial past. Tuesday’s email from NiQuan founder and CEO, Ainsley Gill, informing the company’s 75 workers that their contracts of employment were being terminated, effective April 30, 2024, may turn out to be the beginning of the end for the project. Given the comment by Gill in the email that the company has run out of money to continue operations, it is this group of employees who will be hardest hit. It is quite ..read more

The latest couple to threaten the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) with legal action say their baby died after doctors at the Port-of-Spain Neonatal ICU misdiagnosed the mother and were forced to do a C-Section after realising their error. The situation was detailed in a pre-action protocol letter issued yesterday by Anand Ramlogan SC. The case took the number of infant deaths at the facility to 16 over the period June 2022 to April 9. In a letter issued on Tuesday, Ramlogan counted 18 cases that were supposed to include 16 confirmed cases with two additional pending ones. Guardia ..read more

USA President Joe Biden got Congress to agree on significant funds for Ukraine. So, advanced weapons will flow to that country for defence and one assumes, offence as well. What is really more desirable, though, is Russia at the peace table talking to Ukraine as a sovereign country, bordering both Europe and Russia, about Russia’s security concerns, and non-aggression by both Russia and Europe towards each other. Also, with the United States, Russia, Europe and China sitting down together, to establish the limits of military aggression and provocation by Russia and to work out boundaries of b ..read more

The North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) has denied what it says are malicious claims that its internal investigation into baby deaths at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital is an attempt to cover-up issues or tamper with evidence and sanitise records ahead of a probe by the visiting three-member Pan American Health Organisation team. In a release issued yesterday, the NWRHA said it was deeply saddened by the recent negative commentary about its operations and was fully committed to resolving the matter. Saying events such as the bacterial outbreak at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ..read more

The Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) has reviewed its protocols for dealing with NICU babies following the deaths of babies at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s NICU. Speaking at a post-Executive Council Media Briefing yesterday, Secretary for the Division of Health, Wellness, and Social Protection Dr Faith B Yisrael said Tobago saw the need to ensure it will not be at a disadvantage in the event of a similar bacterial outbreak at any of its NICU departments. “At the beginning of these reports, one of the things that I did was to reach out to the TRHA to ensure they were following a ..read more

A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which was part of the Couva Children’s Hospital was noted in the report of a Parliamentary team which visited the hospital in 2016. And the Health Ministry’s permanent secretary, Chief Medical officer—and Health Minister—have been warned about the danger of a certain criminal offence following the ministry’s “fake news” dismissal of a video about the hospital’s NICU. Opposition Parliamentarians Dr Lackram Bodoe, Roodal Moonilal and Senator Jearlean John spoke about the issues at yesterday’s United National Congress media briefing in Chaguanas. This follow ..read more

United National Congress MP Dr Lackram Bodoe has called for the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) probe report on the deaths of the babies at Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s NICU unit to be made public. Bodoe also believes the hospital’s sterility aspect broke down. Bodoe, a gynaecologist, made the comment at yesterday’s UNC media briefing in Chaguanas. Bodoe said a Neonatal Intensive Care facility for very sick neonates requires a cot, ventilator, oxygen facilities and most importantly, specialised nurses and a team that can keep the unit sterile. “It saddens me to say and think that ..read more

A group of family and friends has threatened to sue popular social media influencer Israel “Markos” Mark for an alleged fraudulent pyramid scheme. Lawyers Joseph Sookoo and Kamini Ramraj representing Kavita Ragoonanan, Kumar and Asha Seegulam, Vitra Maraj, and Kavita, Satesh, and Savitra Maharaj made the threat in a pre-action protocol letter sent to Mark earlier this month. Ramraj claimed that on April 13 last year, Ragoonanan met Mark after being referred by a friend. “The opportunity had been described to her, both by her friend and by the intended defendant, as a means of sustainable, no ..read more