Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis says the blood donor system where people were donating for specific surgeries was corrupt and has been discontinued. She said so during yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference at the St Clair Office of the Prime Minister. Baptiste-Cornelis said an investigation was being carried out into the matter. She said the blood being donated for specific people were not being given to them and it was more desirable to establish a system of voluntary donation in T&T.
She also revealed the vehicles used by the Friends of the Blood Bank were not appropriate for the collection of blood but for the storage of the commodity. She said the blood was taken elsewhere and stored in the vehicles. She said she would seek Cabinet approval for the purchase of "proper mobile units" to collect and store blood.
Baptiste-Cornelis said while the ministry was not about micro-managing "we have taken control of this and we are going out there full steam ahead to make sure we upgrade this blood (donor) area (issue)."
She also said nurses from St Vincent, Cuba and the Philippines were expected to continue to work in T&T over the next year as there remained a significant shortage of those personnel locally. She said Cabinet yesterday approved the purchase of ten new ambulances to transport people to hospitals across the country.