Covid tender request needs some answers

THE EDITOR: I hope the journalists and other curious people in the country have seen and read the invitation to provide consultancy services to the Ministry of Health on covid19. The request to tender was published in newspapers on February 12. Here are a few points that I hope will assist.

First, there is already a report on the actions taken in response to covid19 from Dr Seemungal and team. I urge anyone who wants to bid for the new consultancy to read the report carefully before they begin. Its full name is "Report of the Committee appointed to Investigate the Factors contributing to Clinical Outcomes of Covid19 Patients in Trinidad and Tobago."

Remember to check the closure of all clinics when covid19 appeared. This must have put chronically ill people at higher risk of death because there was no one checking on them. How could the ministry close diabetic and heart care clinics when the people who attend them are the very ones at risk of death from the virus? Some answers would be useful.

The ministry has not stated if it will give the consultants the authority to retrieve files from the medical institutions they are investigating. The previous committee was only given access to 30 patient files when the deaths at the time numbered 3,000.

The tender documents state that the consultant will report to one person, the director of policy at the ministry. However, further reading expands this to a team consisting of the same people who guided us through the pandemic.

Imagine that! They have to be taking guidance from those they are investigating. Really? I don’t understand why in this country of intellectuals and business people I have not heard any comments.

This tender went out with a six-month time limit, because the loan money being used expires in August. Questions should be asked about what happens if the report is not completed in the stipulated time. It just comes to an end? Everyone just walks away?

Can we be assured that this report will be made public and laid in Parliament?

I am again calling on journalists and the educated class to please read these documents and address questions. After the report is done will be too late? It is already too late for the more than 4,000 people we lost during this period.

ANNE DE SILVA

via e-mail