They are fed up with low salaries and plan to take industrial action.

Mt Hope nurses plan to take decisive action at an emergency meeting on Tuesday. According to a source the nurses are fed up with promises that haven’t been kept.

The main contention is about salary increases.

The nurses are saying that they are still working on 2005 salaries.

They are also concerned about the foreign nurses who are allegedly being given exorbitant salaries, when actually local nurses are doing the real work.

According to one of the nurses, the Ministry of Health is aware of their plight but is taking them for granted.

“We have sought help from our bargaining unit and after consultations with them on Tuesday, we will decide on what course of action that would be taken,” she warned

MPs are first in line to receive the vaccines. Otherwise, you can pay $200 to be vaccinated at a private hospital.

The Swine Flu vaccines are here-some 50,000 batches- but members of the public will not be able to access them just yet.

According to Health Minister Jerry Narace health care workers, policemen, soldiers and, of course, parliamentarians (remember the big fuss the Senate made about Opposition Senator Wade Mark who was certified healthy by a doctor?) will comprise the pecking order.

Too bad for the ordinary citizen..

Some 50,000 vaccines arrived last and by tomorrow, 20,000 more will be in the country which has the greatest number of deaths in Caricom. Some five persons have died and there are over 220 confirmed cases.

Persons who don’t have the patience to wait in line can be vaccinated at private hospitals for TT $200.

The vaccines actually cost US 7.50 each (TT$45).

The owners of these private hospitals have to live too, I suppose

The much-awaited Swine Flu vaccine will be here next week, according to Health Minister Jerry Narace- and this should provide much relief to a public becoming more and more paranoid after five deaths and some 215 official cases.

It should be good news to muslims wanting to travel to Mecca for the annual Haj pilgrimage since it appears that many countries are taking the precaution of vaccinating the devout.

Whether or not this is a requirement for travelling to Saudi Arabia where millions are expected, could not be ascertained.

Here, workers with a simple case of the common cold, in many cases, are being forced to stay home until they recover and several schools have closed if there a couple suspected cases of the flu.

To the Health Ministry’s credit, it is trying its best- and maybe the 50,000 doses of the vaccine may be better than best.

The suspected case at the hotel is a management official employed with an expatriate company. The hotel has had staff medically checked.

An expatriate worker has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

It is understood the man, who holds a management position with a foreign company, has been staying at a posh Port of Spain hotel. The Tntinsider was told that employees at the hotel are now being medically examined.

According to employees the results have been given to the management of the hotel.

“The management hasn’t given us any information on the results,” one employee told the Tntinsider.

The worker charged the hotel management is with massive covering up the matter and he believes that this is because a major international event will be held there soon.

“They are more worried if this news is made public the Ministry of Health would close them down.”

Several cases of tuberculosis have been reported in the country’s prisons over the past couple of years.

Two primary schools have reported cases of the Swine Flu virus in the past week. Currently, over 100 persons have contracted the flu.

The Swine Flu menace has reared its head now that the new school term has started.

Last week, Grant Memorial Presbyterian School, a prestige primary school in downtown San Fernando, had to be closed after three cases were reported. Yesterday, at least one case was reported at St Theresa’s Girls R.C. School in Woodbrook, Port of Spain and some nervous parents are keeping their children at home.

The Ministry of Education is trying to be proactive in the matter but with over 100 persons having contracted the ailment in the past several months parents may have the upper hand.

The outbreak appeared to have been contained mainly through the efforts of the much-criticised Ministry of Health but holiday travel to North America apparently has caused a new wave of cases.

Dr Tim fails to find any credible support for his outrageous claims of ethnic cleansing at the Port of Spain General Hospital. Undeterred, he is calling for an investigation into deaths from operations at the Port of Spain General Hospital.

Caroni East MP Dr Tim Goopeesingh, who has failed to get support from his fellow East Indian doctors regarding his sensational charges of “ethnic cleansing” in the Government service, yesterday again attacked the hospital in Parliament claiming that patients were dying because of the shortage of specialist doctors.

Dr Gopeesingh told the House of Representatives today that outmoded techniques were utilised in kidney operations which resulted in many deaths and people “were dying like flies” other operations done by mediocre doctors. Gopeesingh also claimed that because there was not an experienced eye doctor people were going blind from operations performed by a junior inexperienced doctor. He called for an investigation into the mortality and morbidity rate at the hospital..

Gopesingh, who repeated his unproved claims of a concerted attempt to rid the health service of Indian doctors and replace them by foreigners at a United National Congress (UNC) meeting at San Francique, Penal, on Monday night to a partisan UNC crowd as well as on talks shows in the electronic media, has had his claims refuted by some of the doctors he named, including leading urologist Dr Lall Sawh and acclaimed vascular surgeon Dr Vijay Narinesingh. Former UNC parliamentarian Dr Fuad Khan, an urologist, is the only doctor to come forward and support Gopeesingh.

However, he charged that some of his colleagues lacked the courage to back him up, publicly.

Today, Health Minister Jerry Narace today pointed out that the NWRHA revealed that of the 13 doctors named by Gopeesingh eight of them took the Voluntary Separation of Employment (VSEP) that was offered by the Port of Spain General Hospital, two were employed with the University of the West Indies and three resigned voluntarily.

The NWRHA has refuted Gopeesingh’s highly disturbing claims of a campaign ethnic cleansing at the Port of Spain General Hospital.

The Tntinsider will do an in-depth article on the matter.

Was the Government a bit premature in postponing the Caribbean Games? The Swine Flu outbreak hardly seems to be a bother these days.

The Swine Flu scare seems to have abated…..somewhat.

It is no longer the hot topic of conversation. Not even in the Senate where senators, with nothing better to do wanted to walk out because one of their members who arrived from the United States was a potential Swine Flu carrier.

However, the latest figures from the Health Ministry reveal that up to the end of last week, there were 76 confirmed cases with only six of these being people who were still recovering from the ailment. There have no deaths.

Was the Government a bit too hasty in postponing the inaugural Caribbean Games at a cost of $17million and much distress to sports administrators and athletes here and the rest of the Caribbean?

Health Ministry campaigns for improved personal hygiene. But many people have no water in their taps.

Let’s knock wood and praise the much-maligned Ministry of Health for doing a fine job as regards the international swine flu outbreak.

So far, 110 persons have tested negative to flu and it appears that the vigorous personal hygiene campaign is appealing to the public through radio, newspaper and television advertisements to continue with these habits although when one sees the state of the environment in the country-garbage littered streets, clogged drains, stagnant water etc. one is left to wonder.

Not to mention water shortages which may hamper the maintenance of proper personal hygiene.

Are we just plain lucky?

The outbreak has spread to 46 countries with some 12,954 cases and 92 deaths..

]]> http://www.tntinsider.com/health/0679/tt-still-swine-flu-free/feed/ 0 http://www.tntinsider.com/health/0453/mexcian-wave-against-swine-flu/ http://www.tntinsider.com/health/0453/mexcian-wave-against-swine-flu/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:53:52 +0000 TNT Insider Staff http://www.tntinsider.com/?p=453 Swinish behaviour has long been an epidemic here and can be found on the roads and is present, also, among workers in the public service and the private sector.

The Ministry has put the country has put the country on heightened alert and the presence of the national under-17 footballers in Mexico is a bit of a worry to the authorities and parents.

However, it was disclosed that Tijuana, the region of Mexico where the footballers are engaged in a CONCACAF football tournament has been unaffected by the swine flu which has claimed 68 lives in that country.

The flu has been declared a pandemic as it has been also experienced in the United States but there are no recorded deaths from it there.

The Ministry, apparently, is taking a proactive approach and screening teams have been put in place at points of entry to Trinidad and Tobago.

The swine flu is an animal virus that affects young adults and can have symptoms like the regular flu.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) which has declared this latest health scare a pandemic, is considering urging countries to issue travel advisories to countries where there are deaths and large numbers of cases.

On the whole, the WHO has put countries on the alert to suspicious cases of influenza which kills pigs.

Time for the frantic Mexican wave?