Charles: Too many deaths that can be avoided

Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles presents Ingrid Melville with her instrument of appointment as Chairman and Director - Law of the Board of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA).
Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles presents Ingrid Melville with her instrument of appointment as Chairman and Director - Law of the Board of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA).

Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles had called on Ingrid Melville, newly appointed Chairman of the Board of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) and Director of Law, to do more to improve the quality of health care in Tobago.

Melville was appointed as TRHA chairman for 2018-2020 last Thursday at a function at the Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development, Wilson Road, Scarborough.

In remarks at the event, Charles said he was not satisfied with the health care on the island.

“Truth be told there is a quality issue, and I as Chief Secretary, am not satisfied that enough is being done to ensure that basic protocols are scrupulously followed. There are too many deaths that can be avoided in my respectful view. I’m of the view that if we do not come to the realisation that we are not operating at the level that we ought to be, we will not improve.”

Melville, who was Deputy Chairman of the last Board, and also performed the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the two-year term, has been serving in the TRHA board since 2014. At the end of the board’s 2016-2018 tenure in May this year, she has cited financial constraints as the major reason for the limited ability of the Authority to effect improvements in health care.

At the TRHA/Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Public Accountability consultation at the Calder Hall Multipurpose Facility, it was revealed that the five months into the year, after having received an allocation of $230 million, the TRHA was operating with a deficit of $44 million, and had spent $224 million by May.

Earlier in February, TRHA staff based at the its headquarters in Doretta Court, Mt Marie, were asked to vacate the premises after a failure to pay four months’ rent. Other concerns raised have been late pay to staff and complaints by nurses that no jobs were available with the TRHA.

Melville said at the consultation that during her time on the board, particularly between 2016-2018 she was able to refurbish the Accident and Emergency waiting area, instal a new water dialysis unit at the Scarborough Health Centre and buy 50 new hospital beds.

On her appointment last Thursday, she welcomed it as a as a moment of great honour and promised Tobagonians to deliver results.

“We will deliver excellence in health care in Tobago, we acknowledge, and we take onboard the challenges of each task. We will not disappoint, we will actualise the expectations which has been voiced. I know our leaders and the people of Tobago expect and demand no less. We will adhere and we will build on what our predecessor board laid as a foundation,” she said.

Other members of the Board are Dr Hazel Carter Strachan, Deputy Chairman and Director Personal Management and Industrial Relations; Dr David Santana, Director - Medicine; Inez Arthur Gill, Director - Nursing; Stanford Calendar, Director - Public Interest and Welfare; Ken Jones, Director – Business; Carlos Waldron, Director – Finance; Winfield Victor Quamina, Director - THA Interest and Tineesia Brebnor - Director - THA Interest.

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"Charles: Too many deaths that can be avoided"

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