The recent remarks by the Minister of Health on the obesity epidemic in the country are useful if only they open up the door for further discussion. And of course, if they are followed by action.
Here is an opportunity for the press to remind the minister of his words and to evaluate his performance. For opening up that possibility, congratulations to Dr Khan who, unlike the many others before him, is showing an understanding of the present and future of healthcare.
In the two and a half years since his appointment, the minister has repeatedly pointed out the relationship between obesity and chronic non-communicable diseases, the new buzz phrase for diabetes, heart attacks, high blood pressure and strokes. On March 6, 2012 at the third executive board meeting of the Caribbean Public Health Agency or CARPHA (unfortunately known locally as CARPARK), he pointed out that obesity in T&T had jumped from 25 to 55 per cent in ten years.
On April 14, 2013, while being interviewed by Clevon Raphael, he said, "If we don't get a harness on this now we are going to pay the price of hospital beds on non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks, diabetes and hypertension. And if you look at all aspects of the hospital in terms of what we are paying for, we are actually, as a population, paying for the profits of the fast-food industry...they are putting in those additives to make you addicted to those foods which are not good for you, but we are paying for it down the road."
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