Gail Alexander
“I am fair, thank you.”
So said Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis yesterday following her surgery on Thursday.
Robinson-Regis, recuperating, responded to a message from Guardian Media yesterday regarding her condition.
Word of her surgery was announced by the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday night.
She will be on extended leave, estimated to be about six weeks. Public Administration Minister Allyson West is acting as Minister of Planning and Development in addition to her own ministerial duties.
Communication Minister Symon de Nobriga didn’t answer calls on when Robinson-Regis might be discharged from the medical facility she’s at.
Yesterday, members of the People’s National Movement’s (PNM’s) Women’s League which Robinson-Regis heads sent her “Get Well Soon” wishes. A senior league member said the surgery had been a minor procedure and Robinson-Regis will “be in great shape” ahead.
Since Monday, Robinson-Regis had been posting prayers on her Facebook page.
The prayer posted around 8 am yesterday was, “Thank you Papa God for the gift of this new day. Thanks for the opportunity to make right today the mistakes of yesterday. Increase my faith that I will not be deterred in my quest to draw close to you even when the door to you is blocked by my sin. Forgive my sins today O God and give me the breakthrough I need, physically and spiritually, that I may leave behind my bed of self-rejection, impatience, anger and resentment. And when my today is over Father, receive me into the place where you have prepared for all your children.”
Robinson-Regis, 62, has been an MP since 1992.
Yesterday her Arouca Maloney constituency chairman Jelani Reid said, “I’ve spoken via WhatsApp to our MP and she’s going well and resting. We’re praying for her and wishing her the best because we don’t know what we’ll do without our MP who’s done so much for us.”
The Opposition UNC, including MPs Dr Rishad Seecheran and Rodney Charles who spoke to Guardian Media, also wished Robinson-Regis “full and speedy recovery.”
Robinson-Regis is the second member of this administration to deal with health issues. Last Friday Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who suffered discomfort with a cardiac issue, had an angioplasty done - a procedure to manage narrowed or blocked arteries.
After being discharged last Sunday he was back at work on Monday hosting a virtual Caricom meeting.
OPM officials couldn’t say if he’d be at today’s Health Ministry press conference on COVID issues.
Yesterday, UNC MP Dr Roodal Moonilal who said he’s taken the message of Government members’ health issues to heart, got going on his own fitness regime, including golfing which he’s restarted.