I am wondering whether the Trinidad and Tobago government gave any substantial thought to the cancellation of the Caribbean Games, due to the pandemic AH1N1 virus.
While the gesture of putting the health of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago before the welfare of Caribbean sport status, the action is contradictory and totally unacceptable for a country which aspires to be recognized as 'developed nation' within the international diplomatic theater.
It would have been more prudent and certainly circumspect for the Trinidad and Tobago government to set protocols and standards indicative to the status of this event, and show the international sporting community and by extension the international family that the country is prepared, even in the face of a global pandemic to honour its commitments.
Instead the decision taken by the government of Trinidad and Tobago, well meaning as it is, tumbles the country's advanced nation status several notches down the ladder and enforces the fact that the nation's medical workforce has been spouting for years, that the country's health care system is in shambles.
Trinidad and Tobago is considered the Caribbean region's most affluent country. Citizen pay a monthly health surcharge and services are free within a crumbling Public Health system, riddled with complaints of negligence and malpractice. The government, ignoring the recommendations of local doctors has imported 'help' from Cuba, Malaysia, India and Nigeria, while paying little or no heed to local practitioners who urge to make the system better for their fellow nationals.
The onset of the AH1N1 virus has brought into sharp focus the different levels of 'health care' which is available to nationals.
Individuals who are diagnosed with the virus are 'confined at home' for a ten day period. But when members of an international volleyball team complained that they contracted the AH1N1 virus flu in Trinidad, all members of Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball teams were confined to a ward of one of the nation's hospitals. The question begs to be asked- Why wasn't the members of the volleyball team tested and confined to their home like other members of the population?
Which brings be back to the cancellation of the inaugural Caribbean Games..while Trinidad and Tobago may be aspiring to first world status, the mentality of the government clearly in this respect is third world.
There is AH1N1 virus in the UK, but they didn't cancel the 20/20 cricket tournament. There is AH1N1 virus in the US they are not cancelling any events there and Mexico didn't cancel any major event that country just put protocols in place and rolled into the wave.
Now that the government has cancelled the Caribbean Games (which organizers said took 7 years of planning) are notices being sent out for the cancellation of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference which is scheduled for November 2009 in Trinidad?
The Uninhibited Diplomat
While the gesture of putting the health of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago before the welfare of Caribbean sport status, the action is contradictory and totally unacceptable for a country which aspires to be recognized as 'developed nation' within the international diplomatic theater.
It would have been more prudent and certainly circumspect for the Trinidad and Tobago government to set protocols and standards indicative to the status of this event, and show the international sporting community and by extension the international family that the country is prepared, even in the face of a global pandemic to honour its commitments.
Instead the decision taken by the government of Trinidad and Tobago, well meaning as it is, tumbles the country's advanced nation status several notches down the ladder and enforces the fact that the nation's medical workforce has been spouting for years, that the country's health care system is in shambles.
Trinidad and Tobago is considered the Caribbean region's most affluent country. Citizen pay a monthly health surcharge and services are free within a crumbling Public Health system, riddled with complaints of negligence and malpractice. The government, ignoring the recommendations of local doctors has imported 'help' from Cuba, Malaysia, India and Nigeria, while paying little or no heed to local practitioners who urge to make the system better for their fellow nationals.
The onset of the AH1N1 virus has brought into sharp focus the different levels of 'health care' which is available to nationals.
Individuals who are diagnosed with the virus are 'confined at home' for a ten day period. But when members of an international volleyball team complained that they contracted the AH1N1 virus flu in Trinidad, all members of Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball teams were confined to a ward of one of the nation's hospitals. The question begs to be asked- Why wasn't the members of the volleyball team tested and confined to their home like other members of the population?
Which brings be back to the cancellation of the inaugural Caribbean Games..while Trinidad and Tobago may be aspiring to first world status, the mentality of the government clearly in this respect is third world.
There is AH1N1 virus in the UK, but they didn't cancel the 20/20 cricket tournament. There is AH1N1 virus in the US they are not cancelling any events there and Mexico didn't cancel any major event that country just put protocols in place and rolled into the wave.
Now that the government has cancelled the Caribbean Games (which organizers said took 7 years of planning) are notices being sent out for the cancellation of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference which is scheduled for November 2009 in Trinidad?
The Uninhibited Diplomat
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