Aabida Allaham
Saturday, August 15th 2009
IF any of the 35 newly oriented Cuban health officials fails the
examinations set out by the parallel medical board of Trinidad and
Tobago, Health Minister, Jerry Narace, has given the assurance that they
would be sent back home.
According to the minister, before they can be given the all clear to
work here, "they have to be properly licensed, the panel (which is
headed up by Chief Medical Officer, Dr Anton Cumberbatch) will have to
examine all of them, they have to be tested for proficiency in English
language and so forth and it could be that when the panel has completed
this and they are not satisfied with them, we may have to send back some".
Narace, who still hopes however to have the majority of the medical
group working in less than 30 days, was speaking to members of the media
after the formal orientation programme for the healthcare professionals
at the Cascadia Hotel in St Ann's yesterday.
Meanwhile, the group of professionals, comprising 14 doctors and 21
nurses, in fields such as epidemiology, nephrology, oncology,
haematology, internal medicine, plastic surgery and burns, paediatrics,
emergency medicine, and internal medicine, will be distributed among the
Regional Health Authorities "according to the need".
Narace said the Eastern Regional Health Authority would get one doctor
and three nurses, the South West Regional Health Authority six doctors
and six nurses, the North Central Regional Health Authority one doctor
and six specialist nurses, the North West Regional Health Authority four
doctors and six nurses and the Tobago Regional Health Authority will get
one doctor. And in the meanwhile, one doctor would be allocated to the
National Surveillance Unit.
"They are here really to give health care services, and in some
instances, they are going to be used in rural areas. Because in many
instances you go to a lot of our rural facilities and for one reason or
another we have difficulties in sometimes finding an adequate number of
professionals. But to the extent, we are going to use any number of
health care professionals to advance any part of our health care
system," he said.
Addressing the media, Cuban Ambassador Sergio Guerra, who understands
that several of the Cuban medical professionals could use Trinidad as a
gateway to more lucrative markets as their former 2003 colleagues did,
insisted that they "would receive a salary (compatible with the salary
local medical workers receive), they would get all allowances just like
other doctors and nurses and they, with the help of the ministry, are
helped to get accommodation".
On the other hand, while the figure only represents ten per cent of the
projected Cuban arrivals, Narace acknowledged that some groups disagreed
with the ministry's decision, but "whatever the Ministry of Health needs
to do to elevate the level of health care in Trinidad and Tobago ... we
are going to do".
Trinidad News, Trinidad Newspaper, Trinidad Sports, Trinidad politics,
Trinidad and Tobago, Tobago News, Trinidad classifieds, Trinidad TV,
Sports, Business (15 August 2009)
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161517809
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