Kamla puts covid19 questions to Prime Minister

Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has used her Facebook page to pose a series of question to the Prime Minister as she again urged him and his government to act urgently to protectthe public.

She also accused Dr Rowley of attacking his political detractors at a time when Trinidad and Tobago is in deep mourning over the sharp rise in covid19-related deaths.

She said TT is facing a covid crisis because Government did not act swiftly to procure vaccines; did not secure the borders; did not seek expert guidance; did not partner with stakeholders including the private sector and the Opposition in an all-hands-on-deck approach; and did not think beyond closing the (air) borders.

She accused Rowley of "beating his chest" to gloat over two field hospitals donated by the US at a time when institutions and medical staff are beginning to buckle under the strain of the pandemic.

Saying the PM loves to take to social media to sulk and boast, she posed questions for him to answer:

* Why is the mortality rate at record highs?

* What percentage of new cases is the result of the Brazilian P1 variant and is there a strategy to specifically deal with this?

* What are the capacity and capability of the intensive care (ICU) and high dependency units?

* Are deaths mostly from people in ICU?

* How many doctors and nurses are assigned to look after critical cases?

* Is there enough medicine for the sick?

* Is it true there are woeful resources resulting in a lack of proper monitoring of critical patients?

* Given the high rate of infection, what's the back-up plan to further expand bed space and the front line team?

* What policy is there to ensure swift results for people who got tested?

* How many covid19 cases have died at home?

* What monitoring mechanisms are there to ensure the health of covid patients in-home quarantine?

* Are those in-home quarantine being tracked to ensure asymptomatic cases are not spreading the virus?

* Have there been discussion with private hospitals and health care providers to have a comprehensive testing plan and line of care?

* What plan is there to ensure patient services at hospitals and health centres are ongoing and not just shut down?

* What's the vaccine plan? Are we going to be solely reliant on China for vaccines? If yes, what is the exact time frame for arrival?

* Why are the private and business sectors not allowed to source vaccines in partnership with Government?

She accused Rowley of being a failed leader with no plan while the nation suffers.

She also urged the population to get vaccinated as soon as vaccines are available – in contrast to a recent release from her parliamentary colleague Roodal Moonilal, who questioned the efficacy of some of the vaccines being procured and described people getting vaccinated as "guinea pigs." The Government announced earlier this week that 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine are due to arrive on Tuesday.