A video has gone viral on social media purportedly showing two male hospital employees having sex in one of the bathroom’s of this country’s public hospitals.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, when asked about the incident yesterday, said he cannot make any comment as he was not aware of all the facts.
The video, which captioned the incident as taking place in the “general hospital” has also sparked anger from some social media users who strongly condemned the act.
It was reported that the two employees, one a doctor and the other a nurse, were regularly missing during working hours, prompting another employee to follow the both men and video tape the incident.
Speaking to members of the media following the launch of a three- day workshop hosted by the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/Aids at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain yesterday Deyalsingh said he was aware of the video.
“Let me investigate it and whatever actions that needs to be taken will be taken. I only speak when I am in total control of the all the factual scenario and let me do that first,” Deyalsingh said.
The workshop is geared at bringing together various stakeholders including civil society to assist in the fight against HIV/Aids.
Deyalsingh said there are about 11,500 people living with the disease in this country.
He said there was also an increase in people going for testing which has been encouraging as the global target in eradicating HIV/Aids was by 2030.
“More and more people have been testing themselves especially as we ramp up the number of testing sites. We are doing that across the country and we are working very closely with the NGOs,” Deyalsingh said.
He said previous there was a lot of stigma and discrimination meted out to people with the disease but this seemed to have dwindled.
On whether education about the disease would be taken to the schools Deyalsingh said if such a decision was to be taken it would be done in consultation with the education ministry.
“I can’t speak to that because I am not the minister of education but we are working on a whole series of interventions from looking at the diet in schools because we have a problem with childhood obesity,” Deyalsingh added.
Dr Carolyn Gomes, executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, said while it is a fact that the support of civil society has grown over the years, the fight against the dreaded disease cannot be won unless the skills, commitment and expertise of civil society have been fully brought to the table.
She also urged for the need of political commitment, saying this was critical in important decisions making.
Zika alert still on
While there has been a recent declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying that the Zika virus was no longer a global public health emergency, Deyalsingh however, said it still remained a national public health emergency in T&T.
The WHO had declared a global public health emergency on February 1, this year which allowed for increased and more rapid research to be conducted.
This research has since linked Zika to Guilliain-Barré Syndrome in some adults and the severe birth defect, microcephaly.
“This is a guide for the world but each individual country would take that guidance but it would have to act in its own best interest and in its own environment and in our estimation we don’t want to lift that as yet to ensure the safety of our citizens, especially pregnant women,” Deyalsingh said.
Citizens , Deyalsingh added, were therefore urged to continue working with authorities in the eradication of mosquito breeding sites and to take all necessary precautions to avoid being bitten by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.