ROWLEY IN HOSPITAL

THE Prime Minister was warded on Friday evening for overnight observation at the West Shore Private Medical Hospital, Cocorite, after complaining of discomfort.

It’s almost two years since Dr Rowley last visited the United States for heart tests, after plaque was earlier found in one of his arteries. Plaque, which contains the fatty substance cholesterol, can build up in blood vessels, narrowing them and thus decreasing blood flow to the heart. This may lead to a heart attack or stroke.

In a media release on Friday evening, National Security Minister Stuart Young said Rowley “had some discomfort” and “as a precautionary measure, decided to seek medical attention and have a check-up.”

Young also said in keeping with the precautionary measures, a decision was made to keep Rowley overnight for observation and further tests. Young did not clarify what “discomfort” Rowley had experienced, either in the release or when questioned by the media outside the hospital.

Special Branch sources said Rowley arrived “on his own volition” at the facility shortly after 5 pm. Speaking with the media outside the hospital after 7.30 pm, Young said the PM was in good spirits.

“I have been with him. It is the Prime Minister: he is carrying on conversations, joking and this kind of thing. He is in a good state.”

Young said even as the PM was in hospital there was no need for an acting prime minister. He also steered clear of the protocols for a situation in which the PM is unable to function owing to an emergency.

Asked how much time, if any, Rowley might spend resting after his discharge, Young said: “Let’s wait and see what happens. The tests will be done, the doctors will give the advice and the prime minister, I’m sure, will heed the doctors’ advice. At this stage he seems to be well, and let’s just keep praying. The affairs of Government continue. As they are at this stage, the Prime Minister is the Prime Minister.”

Approximately 30 minutes before Young addressed the media, Rowley’s wife Sharon and daughter Tonya Rowley-Cuffy arrived, bringing his overnight bag. Young could not say if the family would also be staying with him overnight, a courtesy that is extended to relatives at the health facility.

Young said the only change he could mention was the cancellation of the covid19 media conference that Rowley was scheduled to host on Saturday. Rowley’s last public appearance was at the opening of the Roxborough Hospital on Tuesday in Tobago.

Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith visited the hospital to take charge of implementing special security arrangements for the PM’s the stay at the hospital.

There were no well-wishers flocking to the hospital up to 8 pm, although news of the prime minister being warded had by this time already spread like wildfire through the mainstream media and social media.

Opposition MP Dr Roodal Moonilal called for the PM’s speedy recovery, teasing in a tweet: “Get well soon, don’t go anywhere, we have to finish this fight on the pavement.”

When Rowley visited the US in March 2019, he was chastised for doing so, given that he had boasted of the excellent healthcare available locally.

The PM visited his doctors in California after missing a medical check-up two years previously. He said these US doctors had been treating him for nearly three decades. He also said then that a build-up of plaque had been found in 2016 and he needed to visit for an overdue medical check-up.

Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh in a press release last night, said, “Permit me this opportunity to wish the Honourable Prime Minister a speedy and thorough recovery. It is imperative for progress of any country that its leaders be of sound health. In noting the amount of work ahead of the country, we need our Prime Minister in the best of health.

“My family and my constituents of Couva South look forward to seeing Prime Minister Dr Rowley in good health and good spirits,” Indarsingh’s press release stated.