Even though citizens continue to bad mouth the country’s public hospitals, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley believes the nation has the best public healthcare system in the Commonwealth.
This was the view held by Rowley on Thursday, as he delivered the feature address at a public meeting at the La Horquetta Regional Complex.
Also attending were La Horquetta/Talparo MP Maxie Cuffie, outgoing chairman Franklin Khan, Finance Minister Colm Imbert, candidates of Team Red and supporters.
Bringing greetings, Rowley paid special recognition to Cuffie, who in July returned to Trinidad after seeking medical treatment in the US for his stroke.
“It is indeed a miracle that Maxie is here with us. God is good to all of us.”
The PM said as leader, he was not asking for blind loyalty, stating that no one on his slate is a “yes man or woman.”
Rowley again brought up Wednesday’s signing of the MoU between T&T and Guyana on the Energy Sector Cooperation after being asked by a reporter that T&T has had oil for over 100 years and “look at the state” our country was now in, and what advice T&T could give Guyana with its recent oil find.
The PM said prudent management of our oil has given citizens an improved quality of life.
“Trinidad and Tobago is not in any state. We have our difficulties and we are managing those hurdles and the state that was being referred to is the closure of a refinery.”
The refinery, Rowley said, was a piece of equipment that was used in the oil industry.
“It has worked well for quite some time, but at this time, it is not working well for us.... and we have no difficulty, at this time, taking the necessary corrective action.”
He said the PNM was not formed in a rum shop over a bottle of rum, but out of the intellectual strength of the party’s founder the late Dr Eric Williams.
He said some people have been saying that the PNM has been in government for so long and has not been able to solve the country’s problems.
“Every country has problems of one kind or another every day of the year,” he added.
Rowley stayed clear from his normal fiery speech showing a gentler side to him, as he urged supporters to support his slate on September 30.
Today, Rowley said, the country has “one of the best public health care system in the Commonwealth, notwithstanding all the bad mouthing that you hear about outside the hospital.”
He based his statement on what he saw recently at a public hospital one night after visiting a close friend who had been admitted for treatment on a warded.
“As I stayed and looked around at those who are working on the ward, providing health care to those who are least able to help themselves…and you see the doctors, the nurses, the attendants, those who cleaning the floors providing healthcare. You never see that in the newspapers. You never hear it on the radio.”
At the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, which Rowley stated was one of the largest healthcare facility in the region, he boasted there was cutting-edge technology.
Rowley remembered the days when transport to Tobago was via coastal steamers as opposed to the ferries which currently service the seabridge.
“And we did not behaved the way we are behaving now.”
He promised in 18 months citizens would have new vessels for the sea bridge.
“Don’t upset yourself it is going to be done. We have placed the order.”