Swaratsingh: No issue with more powers for health minister

PLANNING Minister Kennedy Swaratsingh says there is no problem about the health minister having the ability to intervene in situations where sick children may be delayed in receiving urgent medical attention.

He made this comment in support of earlier comments by Social Development Ministry parliamentary secretary Dr Natalie Chaitan-Maharaj during debate on the Children's Life Fund (CLF) Amendment Bill 2025.

Chaitan-Maharaj opened debate on the bill in her maiden Senate contribution.

Swaratsingh described her contribution as "wonderful."

During his contribution, Swaratsingh referred to other earlier contributions from Opposition Senator Dr Amery Browne and Independent Senator Dr Desiree Murray.

He accepted Browne's points about no single initiative being able to successfully address the medical treatment of children and acknowledging the work of individuals and groups who have pursued this issue in the past.

On the latter, government senators thumped their desks when Swaratsingh said special recognition in the care of sick children should go to "a very special person in 2010 (Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar)."

Swaratsingh, a former PNM government minister from 2007-2010, recalled it was Persad-Bissessar who conceptualised the CLF in 2010 in her first incarnation as prime minister.

He said it is no surprise the bill is the first legislative issue the Senate is treating with since the UNC won the April 28 general election.

Swaratsingh saw no problem with the health minister being able to intervene in certain cases where children may be delayed in getting the medical treatment they need.

"I think it is an important tool of persons who want to sit in the chairs that we sit in, to be able to respond adequately to the things that confront us on a daily basis."

Swaratsingh acknowledged the PNM continued the CLF after the UNC demitted office in September 2015. But he said, "Doing good or doing this kind of service ought not to be the purview of any one government."

Swaratsingh added, "This must be the concerted responsibility of all of us who seek to serve in government."