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alexk
Guest
Public Administration Minister Marlene McDonald is up and about after a bout of hypoglycemia on Thursday and will be back on the job today attending a function.
McDonald said she suffered a bout of low blood sugar because she hadn’t eaten properly which caused her to fall ill after Thursday’s Cabinet meeting. She admitted she hadn’t eaten properly on Wednesday and only had some apple juice on Thursday morning.
When she fell ill, her colleagues called an ambulance which took her from the Cabinet meeting at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s (POSGH) Accident and Emergency Unit where doctors did an electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood count trace to ascertain if it was a heart or stroke problem.
“The tests were clear and those two issues were ruled out,” McDonald said yesterday.
Doctors found her blood sugar was too low and diagnosed hypoglycemia, which occurs when blood sugar drops below normal levels. This may result in a variety of symptoms including weakness, clumsiness, trouble talking, confusion, loss of consciousness, seizure or death. A feeling of hunger, sweating, shakiness may also be present.
There were discussions at POSGH about whether to send her to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex for overnight observation but McDonald spoke with her personal doctor and was transferred to St Clair Medical Centre on Thursday night.
“I want to make it clear that my stay at St Clair is at my own expense. I‘m paying for that and not taxpayers, since it was my personal doctor’s decision,” she stressed.
McDonald was released from St Clair Medical Centre yesterday.
“I want to thank my colleagues who assisted after I fell ill—Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, Ministers Shamfa Cudjoe, Fitzgerald Hinds, Camille Robinson-Regis, Cherrie-Ann Crichlow Cockburn and others.”
These minister went to the POSGH and stayed with McDonald into the evening on Thursday awaiting news.
The minister, who is the MP for Port-of-Spain South, said she will back at work hosting a Father’s Day function at the Port-of-Spain City Hall at 4 pm.