Health Minister in first formal Tobago visit

Minister Deyalsingh acknowledged that there has been a close collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Division of Health and Social Services. “We tried to schedule this visit a couple times before but life happens, at one time something came up in Trinidad and at another time, something came up in Tobago, but I made a commitment that I was going to do this before the budget started in September.” The Minister’s delegation included Donna Farraz, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Dr Clive Tilluckdharry, Ag Chief Medical Officer while Assemblywoman Groome Duke’s delegation included Assemblyman Sheldon Cunningham, Assistant Secretary in the Division of Health and Social Services and Karen Ottley, Administrator in the Division of Health and Social Services.

Following the visit, a partnership meeting was held with the delegation from the Ministry of Health, Division of Health and Social Services, Board of Directors of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) and the TRHA Executive Management team at the Scarborough General Hospital.

The courtesy visit and partnership meeting sought to update the Minister on the operations, achievements and challenges at the Division of Health and Social Services and the Tobago Regional Health Authority with an aim to find sustainable solutions to improve the delivery of services to Tobagonians. More importantly, the information obtained from this courtesy visit and partnership meeting will inform allocations to healthcare services in the upcoming national budget and assist in the development of national policies to govern healthcare in the country.