Deyalsingh: New health lab soon

He was speaking at the post-Cabinet news briefing held at the Ma gdalena Grand Hotel, Tobago.

The agency will be housed at a state of the art facility on nine acres of land at Valsayn, near the teacher training college of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).

Deyalsingh justified the initiative by saying it had been recommended in a United Nations report of 2013.

He said the new entity will enhance this country’s public health response, regulatory and diagnostic capabilities.

The regulatory role includes that done by the Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division and the diagnostic duty of the National Blood Transfusion Service.

The Trinidad Public Health Laboratory’s function will be expanded to a national role inclusive of Tobago.

Asked the cost to establish the new agency, Deyalsingh could not yet say, explaining that Cabinet had only just taken this decision, and that consultancy services must now be sought.

Otherwise, he hoped to alter the current system of blood donation to a “voluntary donation system” instead of the present situation where an ill person facing surgery and his/ her family must seek out blood donors.

Asked about the status of the Couva Children’s Hospital, Deyalsingh said Udecott has taken over the running of the site from the building contractor and has received five offers, both local and foreign, to operate the facility and that these offers are now being evaluated.