By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE findings of the Professor Terence Seemungal report on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago are not surprising and actually confirm an ailing healthcare system.
This is according to former government minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh who once again called for a further investigation of the Government’s management of the pandemic by the Acting Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He made the call on Sunday during the Opposition’s media briefing.
Speaking about the report laid in Parliament on Friday detailing the management of the pandemic in the public healthcare system, Dr Gopeesingh said the report demonstrated, “criminal negligence and misconduct in public office” confirming the Opposition’s recommendations over two years of the pandemic.
Dr Gopeesingh and the other members of Opposition including Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had been repeatedly making calls for a forensic audit into the entire management of the pandemic since the first Covid-19 case was reported on March 12, 2020.
Dr Gopeesingh spoke on the 16 recommendations made by the five-member committee headed by Professor Seemungal, dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St Augustine and consisted of former dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Professor Emerita Phyllis Pitt-Miller, public health specialist Dr Anton Cumberbatch, consultant anaesthetist and intensive care specialist Dr Vidya Dean and Director, Caribbean Centre for Health Systems, Research and Development, Faculty of Medical Sciences Professor Donald Simeon.
He said, “I respect the professionalism of the members of the committee, four of whom I know for a very long time. Secondly, let me say this, there are no surprises in their findings absolutely none. Every single fallacy, shortcoming and problem this committee has identified… This report is in fact confirmation of all we have been saying from the onset.”
Referring to the Covid-19 drug Tocilizumab which officials have noted is an expensive drug but effective in treating Covid patients in need of advanced care, Dr Gopeesingh said hospitals reporting they had just 20 per cent of their required amounts of the anti-covid19 drug Tocilizumab was not good enough.
He said the Government could have saved many lives by spending $8 million to buy 1,000 doses.
And Dr Gopeesingh is hoping that the recommendations from the report be taken seriously and measures put in place to manage the system more efficiently.
Lamenting over the 3,500 plus Covid-19 deaths, he again called for the resignation of Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.
Deyalsingh speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference on Saturday said the report was well-balanced, Trinidad and Tobago did well for a small country and the ministry will be having consultations with the various regional health authorities, learning from the ones who performed well and implementing similar methods in those that did not perform as well in other areas.
