CMO: NCRHA staff at Santa Rosa quarantine centre

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram confirmed that while the Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) at Santa Rosa Heights, Arima, is under the authority of the prison service, it is being manned by staff of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA).

In an interview with Newsday on Thursday, Prisons Commissioner Dennis Pulchan confirmed the ECRC had been transformed for use as a quarantine centre to house and monitor new inmates before they are introduced into the prison system.

Speaking at a virtual media conference on Friday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said while he did not originally know about the use of the centre as a quarantine facility, it was under the authority of the prison service, with no involvement from his ministry,

However, Parasram confirmed the centre was equipped with medical staff under a pre-existing arrangement between the prison and the NCRHA.

“The one in the Santa Rosa area, it falls under the remit of the North Central Regional Health Authority,” Parasram said.

“For years there have been primary care physicians assigned to the prisons, so in terms of interactions, that would have been through the normal course of their remit through the NCRHA, not any special project as it relates to that facility.”

Newsday tried to contact Pulchan for comment on Friday but was unsuccessful.