KE­JAN HAYNES

Lead Ed­i­tor—News­gath­er­ing

ke­jan.haynes@guardian.co.tt

For­mer fi­nance min­is­ter Karen Nunez-Tesheira is re­cov­er­ing af­ter suf­fer­ing a med­ical emer­gency while ap­pear­ing live on tele­vi­sion yes­ter­day morn­ing.

Nunez-Tesheira was a guest on Con­ver­sa­tions with Zelisa on Re­al TV when the in­ci­dent oc­curred at the sta­tion’s San Juan stu­dios short­ly af­ter 10.20 am.

Host, ex­ec­u­tive pro­duc­er of Con­ver­sa­tions with Zelisa and Re­al TV CEO Zelisa Boodoos­ingh had just asked Nunez-Tesheira about her role as a woman in Par­lia­ment. When Nunez-Tesheira be­gan re­spond­ing, she fell silent and slumped back in her chair.

Boodoos­ingh im­me­di­ate­ly called for a com­mer­cial break as staff rushed to as­sist.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia, Boodoos­ingh con­firmed the in­ci­dent and said her ini­tial con­cern was that Nunez-Tesheira had suf­fered a stroke.

“I asked the ques­tion and she kind of just fell back. My first thought was that she was hav­ing a stroke. I im­me­di­ate­ly said, ‘Let’s take a break,’ and we called an am­bu­lance,” Boodoos­ingh said.

She said Nunez-Tesheira was ini­tial­ly un­re­spon­sive be­fore emer­gency med­ical per­son­nel ar­rived. She was tak­en by am­bu­lance to the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex at Mt Hope.

Boodoos­ingh said she ac­com­pa­nied Nunez-Tesheira to the hos­pi­tal, where doc­tors lat­er con­firmed that she had suf­fered a heart at­tack.

She said Nunez-Tesheira is now re­spon­sive and re­ceiv­ing treat­ment. Her con­di­tion has sta­bilised and she is ex­pect­ed to re­cov­er.