Trinidad and Tobago can hire 100 physicians and 100 nurses with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to  ensure that we have the institutional capacity to carry on this parallel health system for as long as we are supposed to, according to Dr Maryam Richards (in photo) who is the Principal Medical Officer, Institutions, at the Ministry of Health.

“We have also received 50 nurses through the UNDP program and nine Cuban nurses who should be arriving in Trinidad very soon, I think it’s this week,” she told the Ministry of Health’s virtual news conference on Wednesday. “We are also upscaling capacity through PAHO and foreign embassies and diplomatic missions,” she said while the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram noted that T&T is adequately placed as far as specialist care is concerned

Meantime ,T&T Nationals who have been stranded in Suriname since T&T closed its borders just over a month ago will be quarantined at the UWI Debe Campus on their return . No date has been set for their return, however. Dr Maryam Richards said a team from the SouthWest Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) is set to test the 60 persons upon arrival.