Already are reports from the UK of European nurses in dire uncertainty as to their status when Brexit eventually kicks in, with some already planning their own exit, even as Mr Stewart said British recruiters are now in TT seeking nurses to fill vacancies in their National Health Service.

The Brexit lure on the TT nurse may be coupled with concerns in TT over crime and the economy, on top of traditional “push” factors that seemingly offer brighter prospects overseas. Paradoxically even as the TT Ministry of Health faces the outbound lure of TT nurses to the North, TT itself has in recent years engaged foreign nurses from places such as the Philippines, Cuba, and the Eastern Caribbean.

The UK itself is losing nurses to sunnier climes such as Australia, amid a steady decline from 2004 to 2012 in UK nationals studying nursing that levelled off since 2012.

So, TT is just like everyone else in assessing how to maintain nursing staff levels, by both retaining its local nurses and fill a shortfall by foreign recruitment. So far, this country’s best safeguards against a brain-drain of nurses seem to be firstly the recognition by the British authorities of the severe effect on small nations of a mass recruitment of the local nurses whose training, including stipend, would have been paid for at considerable expense to indigenous taxpayers.

Secondly, a nurse’s standard contractual arrangement mandates that she serves her country for an equivalent period for which she had received training.

While TT nurses may benefit themselves by better wages, working conditions, professional recognition, career prospects, and general lifestyle opportunities afforded to them and their families by migration to a developed country, TT can also benefit by remittances and their experiences should they ever return to serve in TT’s health system.

Yet TT’s ongoing economic lull and the GATE debate leads us to ask if TT can afford to continue to fund the training of nurses who might migrate after at earliest opportunity? Shouldn’t the receiving country, UK or US, pay a sum of compensation to TT’s Ministry of Health for each nurse or midwife sent abroad? Further, how can the Ministry encourage nurses to stay here upon fulfilling their contractual work period? Should that period be extended? Should wages, working conditions, specialist training and career prospects be improved? How can a better environment be offered to our nurses both during training such as to avert any repeat of last October’s protest by Costaat nursing students over late payment of stipends and during their working careers? We endorse Mr Stewart’s call in an interview with Newsday yesterday for a better basic safety net for nurses facing job hazards – such as microbial infection and physical injury – by way of enhanced sickleave and full insurance coverage.

Stewart also urged better security of tenure and a higher specialisation allowance to reward years of extra study for nurses. While TT likely cannot match every incentive offered by UK and US recruiters, we must find ways of appreciating nurses who are the backbone of our public health system. If we do not act, we will in fact be nursing serious problems for our health sector.

Here at home, Government and Opposition are locked in some sort of ideological warfare that is rooted in nothing that can help move us forward in a changing, difficult world. Many of us are tired of the endless, pointless litigation, the double speak and grand charging when we should be building consensus and avoiding conflict. It is not an overstatement that people are fearful.

Mostly, we are afraid for our lives and those of loved ones as the savagery and barbaric nature of the unpunished crimes committed speak to a deep malaise in our society, which is what really scares us. It does not arise from people being “bad” by nature but from a long-term failure of government policy that has managed hardly to correct the profound inequalities we inherited from the colonial period, rather they have become more entrenched. It is tedious to repeat the list of woes that have contributed to the sickness at the heart of TT society when there is little collective will to change the situation. Anyone brave enough to name names and identify the problem is vilified. Yet, it’s the first step to the change for the better that we pray for.

What should also make us shudder are the goings on in the world around us.

Internationally, the old hegemonies are collapsing and we face an increasingly ideologically polarised and divided world politics, as we simultaneously experience huge technological change that paradoxically connects us, economically and socially. People of my post-WWII generation believed that we had set a course in which international relations would be conducted through robust international institutions such as the UN, where nations would sit together and work out problems aimed at avoiding war and destruction. There, even if it was not always perfect, we would settle on good practise to create better, fairer societies.

Last week for the first time at the UN Security Council, the USA failed to support Israel’s illegal expansion of settlers’ compounds in occupied Palestinian territory, the only of 15 countries to abstain, thereby sending a unified message to Israel. Donald Trump retaliated by defiantly naming a new US ambassador of the extreme right and pro-settlements, promising that once it is a Trump White House everything “will be different”. How exactly, we are not sure, but he is determined to change life as we have known it, in every sphere.

Amid the uncertainty we can be sure that America’s new policy of protectionism and isolation will lead to the withering of the project of international order and multinational trade. If the Trump administration sticks to its electoral guns, we face harder economic times: with getting our goods into US markets; the planned return to coal production blows our regional alternative energy/climate change programme out of the water, with all the investment opportunities that promised; we will have to contribute more financially to regional security and feel the effect of tough immigration policies.

Trends in Europe are only marginally more encouraging, at least for the Caribbean, but we have little reason to believe we will get the better deal in either camp.

And politically, will we be in the Trump camp vis-a-vis Cuba, and if not, at what price? China’s economic sallies into this region may well create another flashpoint.

I hope Caricom leaders have started contemplating what 2017 looks like. We must try hard to focus on what opportunities might present themselves, for they always do. Now more than ever we need visionary Caribbean leadership to navigate the choppy, unchartered waters we are entering.

Good luck everybody.

“As a mother you don’t want to know your child is out there missing.

I would have preferred not to choose, but given the options closure is what we would have to go with. My heart really goes out to all those mothers and families who still have missing children and I will always keep them in my prayers,” Lopez said. “Nowhere is safe anymore. I am pleading with the younger generation, please be vigilant wherever you go, always move in groups for safety and be alert at all times.” Yesterday, at Newsday’s head office in Chacon Street, Port-of- Spain, Lopez indicated that nothing is “too little to overlook” and crime not only takes place at night but can happen anytime and anywhere.

“Community Defence recently launched an app where you can call ‘SAFE ’and submit anything that looks suspicious. I think it is an excellent app and I am advising young people not just to continue to be careful but if they see anything or feel uncomfortable where their safety is concerned, report it.” Lopez added, “I also want to encourage them to speak up because you may see something and may over look it, like nothing is too little to over look. It is not just late at night anymore, crime is taking place in our country anywhere at any time.” Lopez explained that at the moment she cannot find it in her heart to forgive anyone over the murder of her daughter. “It is unbearable to live with the loss of my child on a daily basis. I will never get to see her walk down the aisle or fulfil her dreams. Her life was taken away too soon. Shannon was a role model to others and everywhere she went she left a positive impression on others especially children,” Lopez said.

On December 8, Banfield’s body was found on a shelf hidden under cardboard boxes in a room on the third floor of the IAM & Co Ltd warehouse store on Charlotte Street in Port-of-Spain, three days after she was first reported missing.

An autopsy revealed that she was murdered via smothering.

which has always been, not for Government to buy the facility but for Government to ensure that the facility remains in Trinidad and Tobago, that it remains operational.

profitable, and for the benefit of the economy. The ball is now in the union’s court to provide further information to Government.” Bailey spoke with Newsday after SW UTT President, Christopher Henry, and a team of executives.

President of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), Ancel Roget.

and JTUM General Secretary Ozzie Warrick met yesterday morning with Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart Young, and Minister of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, at the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs tower, Richmond Street, Portof- Spain. According to Bailey, the union went through its proposal – to restart the steel industry under new investors – that was sent to Rowley in September. The union, he said, raised issues they experienced following the closure of steel giant ArcelorMittal’s local operations in March that sent some 2,000 workers on the breadline.

and how union members felt Government was treating with the situation. He said, “we considered it a national issue and not just merely a steel workers issue.” The tone of the meeting, he said, “was very encouraging in that the Government representative appeared to have understood our position.” Government representatives, he said, “have asked for some additional information. We have given ourselves a time line of up to January 5 to make that available to them.” Once the outstanding information was forwarded to Government.

he said, “most likely we will have a follow up meeting.” Asked what was the information required, Bailey said that the union could not make the information public at the moment because it has signed a confidentiality agreement with the liquidator in relation to the purchase of the plant. He believes that Government now understands that the union never intended that Government should spend “a single red cent” but facilitate and enable the investor to have utilities to carry out its functions.

Any firework containing gun powder is restricted under the Act and as such, persons must have permission from the TT Police Service via a permit to sell these fireworks. Reports are that one female vendor was taken into custody after police found items being sold by her to contain traces of gunpowder. Police have vowed ongoing action to clamp down on the gunpowder products some of which were on display by vendors.

Hodge-Griffith told vendors of complaints made to the police about the illicit sale of scratch bombs which she said causes great distress to persons such as the elderly and to animals. Vendors were told that they face fines, which under the law is $2,000. The apprehended woman protested that the devices she sold made just “a small noise”, and are being sold everywhere. A male vendor said street vendors find it impossible to acquire a firework permit while another male vendor said the police should go after the “big fish” who import both small and large explosive devices instead of clamping down on the “small man” trying to eke out a living in these harsh economic times.

A manhunt has since been launched to locate the suspect with Divisional head Senior Superintendent McDonald Jacob, Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Beddoe and Superintendent Neville Sankar spearheading the search for the armed suspect.

Stewart said the biting incident had never been reported in the media.

“It was not a psychiatric patient but a female patient who was going through certain things and who was a little unstable,” he related.

“The nurse and the doctors tried to restrain her and she bit the nurse’s finger.” Stewart lamented that there is no compensation for such injuries.

“The RHAs (Regional Health Authorities) tell you to seek workmen’s compensation but that sum is woefully inadequate and it is a long, drawn-out process”.

He said nurses treating psychiatric patients at the St Ann’s Hospital suffer frequent assaults by patients. Stewart recalled the plight of one middle-aged nurse who was thrown to the ground by a psychiatric patient resulting in her injuring her back and was fired from the job as medically unfit. “She doesn’t yet qualify for a pension, and the RHA is tardy in giving her backpay of increments which she is still waiting on. So she has no income coming in.” Likewise, Stewart lamented the plight of nurses who are exposed to a host of microbial diseases in their daily course of work on hospital wards. “When a nurse contracts chicken-pox on the ward she is sent home for 14 days and so she loses a part of her salary because she has gone over her sick-leave time.” He said such a nurse’s boss will typically deny any liability. “They will say, ‘We are not sure that you acquired it on the wards because it could have been anywhere’”.

Nurses don’t even have health insurance, unlike security guards.

Stewart also bemoaned that nurses who are injured while accompanying their patients in inter- hospital ambulances are not covered by the vehicle’s insurance policy which chiefly covers the drivers. “A number of nurses and attendants have been injured on the job in these ambulances,” he related. Not only don’t they get compensation by any insurance coverage, he said, but they may then be penalised by the RHAs for exceeding their sick-leave allocation in recovering.

“Sometimes they will look to ‘board’ you, that is, to pronounce you as medically unfit and terminate you”.

Stewart wants nurses to be treated as fairly as members of the protective services such as police and fire officers. For example, when police and fire officers are injured on the job they are given priority access to medical treatment at public hospitals, unlike nurses who must join the line just like any other citizen. Further, if the officer’s injuries cannot be treated at a public hospital, the Government pays for them to be treated privately, but such a facility is not extended to nurses, said Stewart.

Saying that foreign jurisdictions put one nurse in charge of just a handful of patients – such as a one to-one ratio at an Intensive Care Unit – he lamented that a TT nurse typically takes care of 30 or 40 patients at any one time.

“Yet the public expects us to give our best.” He also lamented the insecure tenure of many nurses, saying logic dictated they should instead all be permanent so as to ensure continuity in the system. “All nurses in Tobago are contract workers,” Stewart lamented. Other RHA areas began their nurses as temporary but they then were made permanent.

“Nursing educators have been on one and two month contracts,” he revealed. “These are the very persons you are relying on to motivate new people into the profession to give of their best!”.

Sooklalsingh, 36, was asleep after a day of work when he was awakened by his neighbours at about 1.20 am on Tuesday to lime with them under the shed just opposite the now destroyed house on Solomon Avenue, Phillipine, near San Fernando. While under the shed, one of his neighbours told him that they saw fire running across a high-tension wire connected to the house. “I thought them was joking, you know, but when I start running upstairs, I saw all the smoke,” Sooklalsingh said. Sooklalsingh said he ran upstairs to inspect further, but the fire had already spread throughout the upstairs of the two-story house rendering it impossible for him to enter.

Sooklalsingh shared the house with another man and they both worked as welders and fabricators for the owner of the house, Teemull Dubar, 57, who operates as a small contractor. The second man was asleep in a room downstairs when the fire broke out, completely unaware of what was happening until he was forced to jump through the window to escape the flames.

“I lost everything except the short pants and vest I had on and the cellphone in my hand,” Sooklalsingh said. He added, “I called the fire service and all we could have done after that was watch as the whole house burned down. Right now I staying by a friend and we trying to not talk about what happened because I still really shaken up about it.” The owner of the house, Dubar, estimates that he has lost at least $700,000 in property and equipment damage, which includes jack hammers, circular saws and drills. The floor of second storey of the house also caved in and destroyed a Ford Ranger that was parked under the house. Dubar speculated that the wooden floors of the five-bedroom house could be the reason why the fire spread quickly.

Dubar said that Fire Officers from the Mon Repos Fire Station reached the scene about 25 minutes after they were called. Their investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing.

Yesterday, a midday shower which blew rain into the partially covered stands where 28 people have been staying, saw mothers hurriedly picking up mattresses and bed sheets. They have been living there since Boxing Day when fire razed seven apartments to the ground, caused by a lit candle which dropped on a mattress from the tiny hands of an autistic six-year-old.The incident happened at about 10 am, but everythingowned by the seven families was burnt to the ground.

Yesterday, the residents complained that they have been sleeping with their children at the basketball court, but the nights are cold and yesterday, rain swept through what has become their living quarters. Despite the visit of the MP for the area Faris Al Wari and San Fernando Mayor, Junia Regrello, who provided mattresses, the residents said yesterday they felt that the powers that be should have already offered assistance to rebuild their wooden homes. One victim, Andy Williams, said, “While we are grateful for the help we are getting from the mayor and the MP, we still cannot get lodging for the kids and the women.” Williams said the corporation informed them that they have already sourced materials to start construction of their respective apartments. “But days and nights are passing and not a nail on a piece of wood yet,” Williams said.

Other mothers, who also complained about their exposure to the elements at night as they try to comfort each other in the basketball court, made an appeal for Housing Minister Randell Mitchell and Community Development Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, to visit them at Bayshore. “Let’s face it, these homes will takes months to complete and to be furnished before people can begin to live here,” Williams said, adding that while he is grateful that the mayor visited and brought foodstuff, finding a decent place to rest their heads at nights is of paramount importance. Sasha Romano said people have been visiting and providing groceries, but they do not have stoves or refrigerators to store anything.

As the mothers spoke with Newsday, young children ran about barefooted while some helped adults in packing the burnt debris into wheelbarrows to take to the dump.

These included families of Junior Charles, Trevaughn Noray, Keylon Chapman, Quincy Daniel, Darron Boyce, Tezeria Holder, Carolyn Isaac and Hollison Wright.

On December 15, Charles of Mason Hall was found dead at his Belmont Road home. On December 18, Noray, Chapman and Daniel were involved in a vehicular accident along the Claude Noel Highway.

Noray and Chapman died upon impact while Daniel died the following day at the Scarborough General Hospital.

On December 22, four year-old Tezeria died after complaining of feeling unwell, while on December 26, Black Rock resident Boyce fell some 50 feet when he went to retrieve a trapped kite in a tree.

On Tuesday, former KFC supervisor Isaac was found hanging at her Mt. Grace home and the body of Wright was found at his Moriah home partially decomposed.

Alexandrov conducted the autopsies following a request made by National Security Minister, Edmund Dillon on Tuesday evening.

In an interview with Newsday yesterday, Alexandrov alleged that the backlog has occurred because one man is refusing to do his job.

Describing the mortuary compound as “a scene”, Alexandrov said this is the first time he has ever seen so many families awaiting autopsies to be conducted in Tobago.

“A pathologist has refused to conduct autopsies in Tobago and that’s an absolute crazy idea,” Alexandrov said.

“One man does not want to do his job holding the entire nation on ransom.” Alexandrov said that due to his sympathy over the grief being experienced by relatives of the dead, he agreed to forego his vacation for two days, yesterday and today, to complete the autopsies.

“My family is here including my grand-daughter. They came from the United States for ten days so I took a brief vacation to spend some time with them. Instead, yesterday (Tuesday) I got a call from the Minister of National Security. I am supposed to be on my brief vacation with my loved ones but instead I would spend my time here in the mortuary,” he said.

One family member who did not want to be identified said that the turmoil endured during the past few weeks, not knowing when they would be getting some closure, caused an unbearable pain.

“The burden seemed heavy to carry. All we want is the autopsy conducted and to bury our loved ones. This is not good enough. You know how long we have been trying to get this autopsy done in order to bring some sort of closure and just bury our deceased? They have been giving us a set of run around as they said that it was either a pathologist come from Trinidad to do the autopsy or we carry our dead to Trinidad do the autopsy and return and we blatantly refused the latter,” the family member said.

“How are families in Tobago to feel when you have loved ones just there waiting on autopsies and it seems as though they are not been taken seriously. You cannot even make funeral arrangements in the interim because you really not sure when something will be done.” She called on the authorities to address the matter with some level of urgency so that there would not be a repeat of the situation.

Meanwhile, President of the Public Services Association (PSA) and Political Leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), Watson Duke, was also at the mortuary to give comfort to the hurting families.

Duke said the families have been grieving for far too long as they awaited closure.

“Based on the rules of the TRHA (Tobago Regional Health Authority), every Friday between 11am and 4pm, a pathologist is supposed to be here but that has not happened for a couple Fridays,” Duke said.

“These families were further incensed when they got a call to take their families to Trinidad for the autopsies and bring them back. We are already going to Trinidad for food items, school books, clothes, ID cards, every living thing, now they telling us when they die take them to Trinidad and bring them back.” Meanwhile, Secretary of Health and Social Services Assemblyman Claudia Groome-Duke said that the TRHA board is looking into the hiring of a resident pathologist.

“As related with the Ministry of Health, we have visiting pathologists coming to the island in terms of treating with this issue. We’ve had the challenges in terms of recruiting, but they have been working assiduously and I have been in discussions with the board and they are working on ensuring that we do have a resident pathologist on the island. The idea of bodies being flown to Trinidad was a recommendation, but the board decided that it would not happen and it did not happen,” she said