Appointments for four outpatient clinics at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital will be rescheduled after the clinics’ roof collapsed recently — but emergency attention can be obtained at other health facilities, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has assured.
Deyalsingh gave details while replying to Opposition questions on the closure of the four clinics at the hospitals on Tuesday.
He said they were closed because rains from the recent passage of tropical storm Bret caused the roof in the clinic areas to leak and the roof collapsed.
Deyalsingh made it clear that outpatient clinics are not for emergency treatment but are for persons who have to have routine follow-up checks after surgery and similar treatment.
“No patient is being disadvantaged and there’s no crisis. If someone has an emergency, they can go to the hospitals Accident and Emergency Unit, St James or any health centre,” he added.
Deyalsingh said inspection of the roof will be done and he would know later on what the status of the situation was and what needed to be done . He couldn’t say when repairs would be completed until all information is obtained.
On other Opposition queries, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said praedial larceny squads would be paying particular attention to produce being sold at markets and roadside stalls to ensure crops stolen from farms affected by recent floods, aren’t being sold to the public. Rambharat said the squad has increased its usual interaction, with vendors, seeking documents to prove that goods they’re selling are bona fide.
