Rowley hails World Health Organization director-general

THE Prime Minister on Thursday thanked visiting World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for leading the world fight against covid19.

At a briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, he said Tedros had the "honour or onerous responsibility" of guiding the world during the "horrible experience" of the pandemic. (The WHO director-general is referred to as Tedros because his last name is considered difficult to pronounce.)

"We in TT want to acknowledge the significant role played in assisting the Government in providing the people with the effective response to this dangerous pandemic."

He hailed WHO and its agency PAHO for advocating for countries like TT and encouraging respect for science to fight covid19.

"The emergency is over but your role during the emergency was absolutely essential in ensuring that we survived, even as we mourn the loss of millions of people around the world." The PM welcomed Tedros' re-election unopposed, for a second five-year term in May 2022.

"We were delighted to nominate you to have a second term in recognition of the outstanding job you did as a world leader leading us from dangerous desperation to good health." Dr Rowley reflected on his leadership against covid19 in TT.

He said TT fortunately had three new hospitals, very high quality staff in the health service, and UWI's help to track the virus.

Rowley said technical staff had urged a parallel health care system which kept the covid19 response out of the normal health system.

"If we were handling covid inside of our normal health system, we would have had a different experience.

"If there is, God forbid, an outbreak of covid, say, in a year's time, we most certainly will have only one new hospital available."

Rowley named Sangre Grande Hospital.

"While our response was not perfect, we did in fact punch above our weight. Once again, the role of a high-quality professional staff, which incidentally was in the public health service, is something we should all be proud of."

He said in fighting covid19, TT had learnt as it went along.

"We didn't even know in the beginning what the virus was. We had to wait for the mutations, so clearly we were coming from behind on many occasions.

"So we could never claim to be in control of the situation. It was a responding to the virus while we tried to be ahead in the preparation for a response to come."

He said TT's pandemic response "was not perfect, but it was very good."

Rowley said TT must always be a global voice demanding equal treatment for all countries by high income countries.

"If we didn't know that, we should have learnt that from how they behaved towards us during the pandemic."

Recalling his role as Caricom chairman amid the deadly delta strain of covid19, he praised the support of the WHO and PAHO, both which he pledged to support.

"I shudder to think what was happening in Geneva when there was a threat of cutting funding for the WHO from some of the biggest treasuries in the world. It was a very unique and frightening experience.

"I trust that if we ever have a challenge like this, whether it is a virus or otherwise, that we are in a better position to get the best of human behaviour."

Reporters asked what Rowley would tell richer countries to encourage their support for a new pandemic accord which advocated global equity.

He said, "That their wealth is not only theirs, that they have a moral responsibility to the rest of the world, especially when they have some responsibility for any deficiency we may be experiencing on our own.

"We are having to find resources to respond to the deleterious effects of climate change, which are largely the outcome of these high-income countries benefiting from what they did in the beginning when the wind was sown, and we are now reaping the whirlwind. So they have a moral responsibility and a liability to us.

"Therefore, as we discuss it at an international level, our voice can only be saying that, with respect, of course, but with firmness."