PM Manning ‘alive and kicking’

MINUTES after arriving at Piarco International Airport at 6.30 am yesterday from Cuba, Prime Minister Patrick Manning assured the national community that he was in good health after having his pacemaker implant and ready to get back to work. Speaking briefly to reporters at the airport, Manning said the pacemaker implant was performed successfully and he was “alive and well.”  The pacemaker he said was going at 76 beats per minute. “It is working excellent,” he added. Manning said the Cuban approach to medicine was a collaborative approach. The Prime Minister said he also underwent eye surgery and as a result there was no need for glasses. The pacemaker implant was done as a follow-up to a routine medical analysis done on Manning’s heart in Cuba on August 3. On April 28, 1998 Manning underwent surgery in Cuba to repair two valves in his heart.

The Prime Minister thanked all those who wished him well prior to his departure and while he was in Cuba. Manning’s local cardiologist, Dr Rasheed Rahaman, said the Prime Minister could continue to live a normal life with the pacemaker and did not have to reduce his current workload. At Piarco to welcome the Prime Minister and his wife, Education Minister Hazel Manning were Acting PM Joan Yuille-Williams, Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift and other top government officials. Speaking about the Budget Manning said that Government will have to re-organise its schedule. The Budget he said would now be presented early October, which was well within the statutory period. He had other assignments that would cause him to leave the country again, including addressing the United Nations on September 24 - Republic Day.

Government officials said Manning had no public engagements yesterday and were uncertain whether he would be contacting any of his Cabinet colleagues or resting. Phone lines at the Prime Minister’s La Fantasie residence in St Ann’s were tied up for a significant part of yesterday morning. When Newsday called the Prime Minister’s residence later in the afternoon, an official said Manning was “indisposed.” Manning left Trinidad on August 12 for Cuba to have the pacemaker implant. The procedure was completed on August 20 and Manning was originally due to return home on August 26. However his doctors advised that he remain in Cuba for a further 72 hours “in order to facilitate the final stages of stabilisation due to a new medication being administered.”

Manning had a private audience with Cuban President Fidel Castro after his surgery in 1998 and since the PNM returned to office in 2001, Cuban doctors and nurses have come to Trinidad and Tobago to fill critical shortages in the health sector. Government officials were uncertain whether Manning was able to meet with Castro on this occasion. While Manning’s itinerary of public engagements will be released by Whitehall today, it is  certain that he will attend tomorrow’s Independence Day parade at the Queen’s Park Savannah and the National Awards ceremony at President’s House later in the day.