HOSPITALS in this country are as ready as it can be in the event of a national disaster, says Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis.
"We are as best ready as we can be given what we found," she said.
The minister was responding to questions posed by this newspaper with regard to the health sectors state of preparedness in the event of a disaster following the launch of the Inspector Dengue Eradication Programme (DEP) for standard four primary school pupils at the ministry's head office in Port of Spain yesterday.
Over the past couple of months, this country has experienced severe flooding and inclement weather and when questioned about the burden that can be placed on hospitals in this regard, chief medical officer, Dr Anton Cumberbatch said every hospital had a disaster plan coordinated by the emergency centre at the ministry, "so it is not as though they are unprepared".
"In fact, we had a (Pan American Health Organization) PAHO team work with our hospital engineers etcetera, re-accessing all our infrastructure and their implementation plan to upgrade even further and better prepare ourselves, most particularly for things like earthquakes," he said.
However, the Baptiste-Cornelis added that the PAHO team "gave a report on different aspects, and different hospitals that needed improvement and renovations and as you would recall in my Senate speech, I mentioned the fact that we are upgrading these facilities and they are going to be upgraded".
She also announced that legislation to support the Children's Life Fund will come before parliament as soon as the Legislative Review Committee (LRC).
The Children's Life Fund was a People's Partnership campaign promise in the lead up to the 2010 general election and was developed to provide funding and critical support specifically for children needing life saving, tertiary-level health care services.
However, while it was launched in August 2010 by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, it has yet to be brought to life.
In offering an explanation for the delay in legislation, the health minister said there was a process to follow and they had no choice.
"It has to go to the LRC where all bills have to go...when it comes out of there, it comes straight to the cabinet, who then brings it to the parliament, where it is voted upon and then it goes up to the Senate where it is voted upon, just the process and we got to follow it," she said.
So far, members of the private sector, locally and internationally, have been pledging money to go into the fund and according to the minster, "as soon as the fund is incorporated and the account is open with the correct fund managers, we will be putting in the money".
