‘Tremendous response’ from local doctors

Several local doctors have agreed to shepherd the Cuban doctors as they ease into the local system. In three weeks’ time, the first batch of doctors who arrived yesterday will be in local hospitals."

Saying that there was a “tremendous response” from local doctors, Health Minister Colm Imbert said the local medical fraternity was welcoming the opportunity to use the Cuban professionals to help solve the problems in the health system and to expand the range of services available. He was speaking at a post-Cabinet news briefing at Whitehall yesterday.  He said the Chief Medical Officer at Sangre Grande was pleased that Government would be using the Cuban nurses to re-open the paediatric ward at the hospital.

There was also relief from the medical practitioners that the Cuban doctors would also be used to establish a specialised eye surgery unit at San Fernando for cataract and other types of surgery. Imbert announced that the persons on the panel responsible for issuing temporary licences to practitioners in case of a shortage of doctors are Chief Medical Officer Dr Rampersad Parasram and three medical officers with at least 10 years’ experience. There would be one layperson, an attorney-at-law, Seenath Jairam SC.