By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE five-member committee set up to investigate Covid-19 related deaths have requested three weeks additional time from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to complete their investigations which have been granted.
This was announced by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on Wednesday.
Deyalsingh said the team which initially had one week to complete their report will now have one month to do so.
The team headed by Professor Terrence Seemungal began their investigations on January 17 and was expected to complete them on January 24.
Deyalsingh added that he did not inquire of specific reasons for the extension but that the team was acting independently and he simply asked for permission from the Prime Minister which was granted.
He said, “We at the Ministry of Health are not micro-managing the issue. It has to be a fair, transparent, independent issue. I did not ask for details as to why but I would imagine he (Seemungal) wants to do a thorough investigation and he is acting independently of the Ministry of Health.”
Concerns over the allotted time frame were raised by former government minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh who stated that one week was not enough for the team to comprehensively investigate the Covid-19 death situation in the public hospitals across all the regional health authorities.
