Laquis was speaking at the launch of the National Education Campaign at Republic Bank’s head office in Port-of-Spain. The theme of the campaign is “I Care Because Cancer Doesn’t.”

The programme will be taken to the nation’s schools in the next six months.

Laquis said he the organisation could not give up because Government was owing money to the organisation.

He said during the past two years the government has failed to pay the $2 million per year to the organisation despite repeated requests.

“We had no money for two years and we did not cut back our services and we are going onto the third year (without payment),” he said.

Laquis said the society’s budget is $6 million a year which is raised by sponsors and other stakeholders.

He said the mobile units were expensive, medicine and the equipment.

Laquis also called for a cancer registry and a treatment centre which he believes was long in the making and the responsibility of Government.

He said the data collected from the registry of deaths was inaccurate and backdated to 2009.

“The data is wrong and inadequate and only way we can collect data is to make it a reportable disease,” he said.

He said the names and identity of patients did not need to be given but just the information on treatment and if it worked.

Laquis said cancer was the second leading cause of death and through a change in lifestyles it could be prevented.

“Focus on the youths, educate them, change your lifestyle, change what you can and get it early,” he said.

He said the organisation’s home at Rosalino Street was in “tremendous” need of repair and they would hopefully be owners to a property along the Foreshore, Mucurapo.

However, Laquis said they were hoping to raise $30 to $40 million to build on the property if approved by Cabinet.

Contacted for a response, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said he was unaware of the problem.

“I would have to check with Permanent Secretary, ministers don’t handle money. I would advise him (Laquis) to contact the Permanent Secretary who is the chief accounting officer,” Deyalsingh said. (Trinidad Guardian)

Founded in 1999, the AUIS was previously known as the University of St Eustatius School of Medicine, and was established on the island of St Eustatius by a group of medical school educators and administrators.

In 2013, the school came under new ownership and management, International Educational Management Resources LLC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and led by managing director Milo Pinckney and president Renu Agnihotri.

Speaking at the ribbon cutting ceremony this weekend to mark the official opening of the university’s Basic Sciences Facility, Dr Edward Layne, a gastroenterologist and native of Barbados, provided the background of the AUIS’ move to Barbados.

Layne, who served as the honorary consul for Barbados in Atlanta for the past 20 years before his retirement last December, was instrumental in paving the pathway for the institution’s move to Barbados.

“Two years ago, a young visionary entered my office, his name was Mr Milo Pinckney. He said to me, ‘Dr. Layne, I am not a doctor but I am the son of a physician entrepreneur with Caribbean roots’. He said ‘I am a businessman, who owns a medical school and have several patents in the field of medical technology’, and that in my opinion may be able to revolutionise the training of young doctors and the practice of medicine.”

He added that he was quite curious as Pinckney explained his interest in moving the university to Barbados and deploying a patented, medical information technology device called the Clinical Activity Rotation Log or CARL.

The device contains the templates for state-of-the-art training programmes that encompass traditional western medicine as well as the proven aspects of complementary and alternative medicine, now called CAM.

Admittedly impressed by what the young businessman had to say, Layne introduced him to the minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, Senator Maxine McClean, while hosting the fourth biennial Barbados Comes to Atlanta event in May 2016.

Sharing his perspective of the experience, Pinckney explained that when he met McClean a year and a half ago, “in a moment’s notice” she saw the merit in what they presented when they proposed to move AUIS to Barbados.
“She embraced it with such vigour that she visited our offices in Atlanta to see first-hand what we were doing, and she said ‘I can get behind it’ and championed the move here…”

Highlighting Barbados’ literacy rate and the rank by the US Department of State as “one of the most politically transparent nations on the planet”, he believes Barbados has many unique qualities and presents tremendous opportunities for his institution.

“In our short tenure here, we have developed a great partnership with Senator McClean and Dr Layne, [who] facilitated our relocation. The growth of our institution and our contribution to the island of Barbados will come together entirely, so I thank you all for your support and most importantly, for your recognition of a quality programme and the opportunity for us to bring it here,” he said.

Similar to Layne, McClean admitted that, while attending the Barbados Comes to Atlanta event, which is intended to engage Barbadians in the diaspora to explore opportunities, she was enthralled by the opportunity Pinckney presented.

“I bought into the idea from the presentation, [which was] supported by a distinguished Barbadian in the form of Dr Layne, who himself has been a medical practitioner for many years, and would have been involved in the startup of another medical institution. I recognised I had to come back to the prime minister, and my Cabinet colleagues here in Barbados and share the opportunity.”

The minister of foreign affairs explained that convincing her colleagues was “not a hard task” as they all recognised the potential of the institution as it has been demonstrating its capacity to produce good students.

“It is my hope that given the importance of medical training and the demand globally for medical training, that there will be opportunities for synergies to be forged between our traditional medical faculties at the University of the West Indies and the programmes offered by the American University of Integrated Sciences,” she added.

Speaking to the incoming students gathered at the ceremony, McClean shared with them the benefits of the move.

“Being in Barbados gives you the opportunity to experience not only state-of-the-art medical training but the opportunity to live in a small society, which, in many respects, has demonstrated the capacity of a resource scarce nation to engage the world and to demonstrate that we are able to foster a level of development and quality of life that is of interest to other countries,” she said.

Bjorn Ebanks’ heart stopped twice, and he underwent CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for almost 90 minutes before being placed on advanced life support and undergoing emergency surgery to remove life-threatening blood clots in his lungs.

The surgical experience and skills of Dr Binoy Chattuparambil, Health City’s chief cardiac surgeon and senior cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, saved Ebanks’ life with a procedure so difficult that fewer than 20 hospitals in the world are likely to have attempted it.

Ebanks arrived at the tertiary care facility in East End, Grand Cayman via ambulance. During the journey, he went into cardiac arrest. Resuscitation efforts were ongoing in the ambulance and while he was being brought into the Health City triage area.

As hospital emergency staff refused to give up on resuscitation attempts, Dr Binoy — as colleagues and patients call him — swiftly intervened, having just completed his morning rounds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Dr Dhruva Kumar Krishnan, a senior consultant in Cardiac Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at Health City, is also a certified American Heart Association Basic Life Support/Advanced Cardiac Life Support provider as well as an instructor.

Dr Krishnan, whose team conducts the BLS/ACLS classes at Health City, recalled the extensive resuscitation efforts: “We went on for close to 90 minutes. He did come back two times and then we sort of lost [him], so we continued the cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Dr Binoy walked in and he decided that we should try the ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation).”
Following a rapid transfer of the patient to the operating theatre, he was placed on ECMO life support, which involves channelling the patient’s blood into a roller pump that serves as the patient’s “heart”.

In response to his colleagues’ concern that it might be too late for ECMO in Ebanks’ case, Dr Binoy was confident: “I told them, if you are not doing it, it’s 100 per cent death, if you are doing it, then maybe one per cent … for that patient, it’s the only chance.”

With all hands on deck and team members performing heart massage to keep the patient alive during the procedure, Dr Binoy recalled that it was an adrenaline-charged and intense scene: “You should have seen the whole team … everyone is up in there doing the massage on one side while we instituted the ECMO to the groin, which took me about 20 minutes.”

The emergency team waited with intense anticipation as the ECMO machine did its work. Within five minutes, Dr Binoy was vindicated as the patient’s heart slowly resumed beating: “With the ECMO he was getting better, he stabilised and I shifted him to the ICU.”

Next, Dr Binoy sought to determine what had caused the young man’s heart to stop, and to find a solution. He enlisted the help of the patient’s loved ones in his investigation. “His parents and girlfriend … told us that for the last two weeks he had been very unwell, with shortness of breath,” which deteriorated to the point where he asked his girlfriend to call for an ambulance.

Dr Binoy quickly recognised the problem when the patient’s mother recalled that her son has been diagnosed with clots in his leg veins on two occasions — the first time in 2005 and again in 2008. After each diagnosis he was advised to take blood thinners for six months and then discontinue the medication.

With this new information in hand, Dr Binoy immediately ordered a CT scan, which revealed that blood clots were completely blocking both lung arteries. “There was absolutely no blood going to the lungs. So there was only one option: surgery again. From the CT scan room we took him immediately to the operating room … this surgery took almost 10 hours,” the surgeon explained.

The emergency surgery to remove the blood clots is a complicated procedure called a pulmonary endarterectomy, and involves putting the patient on a heart and lung machine. “We had to cool the body to 20 degrees centigrade. I had to drain all the blood from the body, open both lung arteries and remove the clots from both sides,” Dr Binoy recalled.

To allow the patient more time to recover, he was kept on ECMO for an additional 48 hours, which was needed because his brain did not initially respond well to the treatment. “But after five to six days he was perfect, there was no neurological deficit and he started walking after six days … lung pressure returned to normal, his heart became normal. And after two weeks we sent him home,” recounted Dr Binoy.

“I’m very happy about the outcome,” Dr Binoy said, “it’s kind of bringing him from the grave back to life … he is such a young man. It would have been very easy to say he had cardiac arrest and that after 45 minutes nothing more could be done. But we took that one per cent chance when we decided to put him on ECMO and decided to do the surgery.”

Dr Binoy expressed his joy at this slim chance of success being realised: “It might have been a one per cent chance then, but now the patient is 100 per cent. For the family they’ve got their son, their boyfriend back, so it’s very, very satisfying.”

Dr Binoy explained that the delicate and rare pulmonary endarterectomy procedure involves the use of very fine instruments for incisions and the removal of tiny clots from the lungs. “The learning curve for this procedure is very long. That’s why there are only 10 to 20 hospitals where it has been done in the entire world. But the surgery is so gratifying,” he said.

As one of the few surgeons worldwide with extensive experience in the intricate procedure, Dr Binoy noted: “I have been involved in at least 300 cases of this in India at the hospital where Dr Devi Shetty, one of the experts in this surgery (and Health City’s founder), was involved. I have seen a lot. I have seen young people, who are unconscious or who are bedridden or on home oxygen, and watched them going back home to their lives.”

Relieved at having a second chance at life, Bjorn Ebanks has only praise for his surgeon and for Health City: “Dr Binoy is a good doctor. He is one of the best I would say. Most doctors would probably have given up and said ‘alright I’m gone.’ This is a good facility, real good facility … people in here are good too and they treat you well … I’m just grateful that I am here and I can have another chance to see my family.”

The medical team was also emotional and overjoyed at Ebanks’ near miraculous recovery.

“Bjorn is extra special for us because we sort of pulled him out of nowhere … and he is a fighter, he came out of it. And I think it makes us very happy, to see people like him walk out of ICU and walk out of the hospital,” Dr Krishnan said.

As for Ebanks, he is looking to the future with a renewed sense of purpose: “God got some plan for me. I don’t know what is, but he got some plan for me.” (Jamaica Observer)

Chastanet, who visited the Cayman Islands this month to meet with medical professionals at the three-and-a-half-year-old facility, observed a streamlined experience benefiting patients and delivering results.

Overall, it is an incredible facility and, most important, the Prime Minister opined, it is integrated into the global health-care system. Citing the hospital’s partnership with Ascension, America’s largest faith-based hospital system and its accreditation by Joint Commission International, the Prime Minister was impressed to see radiology scans being read in real time by expert professionals a world away in India.

“The Cayman Islands and the northwestern region of the Caribbean are extremely lucky to have Health City serve them,” he said, adding that St. Lucia was hoping to adopt this cutting edge model of health care as the St. Lucia Government seeks to re-engineer its health-care system.

“We would like to have the same facility in St. Lucia to allow St. Lucians and people in the Eastern Caribbean access to the standards, experience and technology that’s being put into practice at Health City,” he asserted.

The Prime Minister was assured that Health City would support the work of existing medical facilities in St. Lucia. “We would like their team to come down to St. Lucia as soon as possible, meet with our medical officials, take a look at our health environment, as we explore the possibilities for a closer collaboration.”

Health City’s executive leadership is also interested in exploring opportunities for collaboration with St. Lucia and other nations in the Caribbean.

“We were extremely pleased to receive Prime Minister Chastanet at Health City,” said Dr. Chandy Abraham, CEO and Medical Director at Health City. “We have also been very impressed with the Prime Minister’s vision for the sustainable development of the Caribbean and look forward to working with him and his Government on how we can expand the provision of compassionate, high-quality, affordable health-care services to the people of the region in a world-class, comfortable, patient-centered environment,” he added.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/st_lucia_news/st-lucia-open-exploring-opportunities-health-city#ixzz4uO3VIC48

According to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture, commercial importers and the general public are now free to import live birds, hatching eggs, and fresh, frozen and chilled poultry meat and products, including table eggs, from that territory.

The decision follows the UK’s declaration of freedom from the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza resulting in the lifting of a ban which was placed on these products last December.

As a result, importers may now apply to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services Department for permits to import poultry and poultry products from the UK.

“Commercial importers are reminded that all commercial shipments of live animals and animal products must be accompanied by an Export Health Certificate issued by the UK’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs,” the statement said.

In addition, a passenger meat import permit is needed for personal (passenger) imports of meat and meat products, which must be in their original packaging and bear an official inspection mark.

Passengers must also declare these items on arrival and present them to the agricultural quarantine inspector for examination.

However, persons are asked to note that a ban remains on the importation of poultry and poultry products from other countries in the European Union.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/barbados-lifts-ban-uk-poultry-poultry-products#ixzz4uO2CQ2vu

Thomas suggested on OBSERVER Radio yesterday that the twin island state should take a similar path as Jamaica where that country’s Public Health Act of 1974 was amended in 2013. According to the Act, charges not exceeding JMD $1 million or imprisonment not exceeding 12 months may apply to parents, health workers, and principals or operators of schools, for each child not adequately vaccinated.

“I think Antigua and Barbuda should follow suit. The legislators who are amending these acts, have to ensure that the penalties are just as high to ensure compliance. However, the sum of a million should be less,’ she said.

According to her, Jamaica now enjoys a high compliance rate for vaccination, as submission of immunisation cards is a must for admission to public and private schools.

“The alternative of vaccinate or pay a million dollars or spend time in prison, is very high, so, there is greater compliance. No matter if you are a Rastafarian, Hindu or a Christian everybody has to comply”, said the lawyer.

Thomas further stated that the only challenge the government of Jamaica faced with vaccination compliance was enforcing legislation in cases where children are home-schooled. That is a small number, she, however, noted.

Local Rastafarians are among those who oppose having their children vaccinated. They contend that being forced to be vaccinated is an infringement on their religious rights as a community.

Thomas suggested that compromise could be reached through extensive public education campaigns and meetings with the groups at which there are presentations by doctors and other professionals.
“Until these groups see the reality, that their child’s health is paramount, they will not yield to this programme. I know the Rastafarians in Jamaica are just as religious as anywhere, but they understand that sometimes, the government have to enact laws for the good governance of the people,” said Thomas.

“Their beliefs and rights have to be respected, but they must understand that religious rights have to be balanced against the health of their children.”

She said it is of great necessity that there is high vaccination compliance because children who are not vaccinated are exposed to a number of communicable diseases that can affect their growth and burden the health care system.

Coralita Joseph, former superintendent of public health nursing, agreed with Thomas stating that there should be more stringent measures to ensure everyone is vaccinated.

“We have always talked about putting in a law that covers all of the vaccines and all of the people who are supposed to get vaccine,” she said.

Joseph said the health department currently uses the education law, which makes it mandatory that no child is admitted to school without being vaccinated. She said, however, that law is not being enforced and children, who have not been vaccinated are still being admitted to private and public schools.

“We are doing the greatest good for the greatest number and the government should make sure they take that up and support the vaccination programme right up to that point … and that law should cover the entire nation.” (The Daily Observer)

This is according to Dr Brian Charles, who is in Dominica to provide primary assessments for the health care services and the hospital there, and to work alongside the Barbadian military personnel. Dominica remains in a state of emergency after it was devastated by a category five Hurricane Maria on September 18.

Charles stated that there was an urgent need for artisans, medical and nursing personnel to provide much needed care for those requiring assistance.

“The [Princess Margaret] hospital has been badly damaged… it is about 70 percent destroyed, but it is running somewhat,” he stated.

However, he lamented the fact that the hospital’s accident and emergency department had very limited function, as the institution had no power, water, operating theatre, X-ray or CAT scan departments, laboratories or blood bank.

“Our appeal right now is for assistance to get those up and running soon,” he urged.

Charles reported that there were currently five people who needed to be medevaced from the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

“The French authorities have indicated that they will take them to Martinique. There is also one critically ill police officer who sustained major trauma that needs to be airlifted,” he said, while adding the needs of dialysis patients were also a cause for concern.

However, the physician noted that the Roseau Polyclinic was operational after sustaining minimal damage, while the Portsmouth and Marigot health centres were also functioning but with limited staff.

“We have been unable to reach any of the other health centres at this point,” he added, explaining that blocked roadways were hindering efforts to reach persons in remote areas.

Ministers of health meeting at the 29th Pan American Sanitary Conference voted unanimously to re-elect her. Her candidacy, which was not contested, was submitted by the government of her native country.

She will assume her second term as Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, PAHO’s Secretariat, on February 1, 2018.

In her acceptance speech, Dr Etienne cited her “commitment to deliver to all of our peoples, from all walks of society, a long and productive life, with quality care into our senior years; access to quality health services without fear of impoverishment; access to medicines and vaccines that we can afford, including effective antibiotics; freedom from preventable diseases, with reduced exposure to disease vectors”.

She said access to sexual and reproductive health services; to healthy, nutritious food; and to clean water and adequate sanitation were important, along with safe refuge and adequate health care in the face of disasters and health emergencies.

“Action by the health sector alone will not be sufficient to achieve our objectives,” Dr Etienne said. “This is why, when I visit your countries, I meet with heads of state and officials from across other sectors. Looking beyond government, however, I am convinced that we must mobilize our partners in academia, civil society and the private sector to improve health.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had seen Dr Etienne’s leadership in dealing with Zika, hurricanes and emergencies and how swiftly she reacts.

During Etienne’s first term, the countries of the Americas achieved several important health milestones with PAHO’s support. These included the elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015 and the elimination of measles in 2016. Countries also advanced in the elimination of neglected diseases including trachoma, Chagas disease, and onchocerciasis (river blindness) and the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. PAHO Member States also approved a regional strategy to achieve universal health, becoming the first WHO region to do so.

Under Etienne’s leadership, PAHO has supported Member States in coping with major epidemics, including Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever, as well as disasters that have ranged from hurricanes and catastrophic flooding to earthquakes and droughts.

The former Chief Medical Officer in Dominica began her first five-year term as PAHO Director on February 1, 2013, after being elected in September the previous year. Previously, from 2008 until 2012, she had served as assistant director-general for health systems and services at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prior to that post in Geneva, she was assistant director of PAHO from 2003 to 2008, in charge of five technical areas: Health Systems and Services; Technology, Health Care and Research; Health Surveillance and Disease Management; Family and Community Health; and Sustainable Development and Environmental Health.

During her tenures at WHO and PAHO, Dr Etienne has led efforts to promote universal health coverage and renew primary health care to strengthen health systems to be more integrated and to function better. She has also spearheaded policy directions for reducing health inequalities and advancing health for all through universal coverage, people-centered care, the integration of health into broader public policies, and inclusive and participatory health leadership.

Dr Etienne has been heavily involved in the struggle to help countries reduce the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases through efforts to combat obesity and curb the tobacco epidemic. She has also supported expansion of immunization programs in the Americas, and earlier this month accepted the Measles and Rubella Initiative Champion Award for PAHO’s work to eliminate measles and rubella from the Americas.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/dominican-re-elected-second-term-paho-director#ixzz4u5bO8gZM

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami issued its first advisory on Tropical Storm Jose at 11 a.m., at which time it was about 1,505 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and moving west northwest at 13 miles per hour.

“A movement toward the west or west-northwest at a slightly faster rate of forward speed is expected during the next two days. Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours and Jose could become a hurricane by Friday,” the NHC said.

It advised interests in the Leeward Islands to monitor the future progress of Jose.

However, no watches or warnings have been issued as yet.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/new-tropical-storm-forms-behind-hurricane-irma#ixzz4rqxzLLPM

Rational Vaccines conducted a clinical trial for its herpes vaccine in St Kitts and Nevis in 2016 without oversight by the FDA or another traditional body.

Critics in the medical community in the United States and elsewhere said it was unethical for Rational Vaccines to run such an unmonitored clinical trial.

The St Kitts and Nevis administration says it was not aware that the herpes vaccine trial had been conducted in the federation, and the ministry of health says the matter is being investigated.

The trial is reported to have taken place between April and August of last year.

Former chief medical officer Patrick Martin, who went on pre-retirement leave in June 2016, said didn’t know about the trial.

“It is a fact that there was a trial taking place, as a matter of fact two trials were taking place around the same time, stem cells and herpes vaccine, I was not aware of both of them. How come? I guess the investigation the ministry of national security is undertaking, according to the release for the ministry of health will unearth those details,” Martin said.

WINN FM asked if both trials were linked.

“Well they occurred in St Kitts, they involved medical experiments, the stem cell experiment was known to a number of persons inside and outside of the Ministry of Health except the office of the CMO which ought to have known about it. And judging from some of the internet posts and Facebook posts it appears as though some people ought to have known about the herpes trial also,” Martin said.

He replied, “Absolutely not!” when he was asked if he knew about the trials.

Martin has promised to cooperate with the investigation, if he is asked to assist that probe.

“It’s country above self, I don’t have to be asked I put out a statement before being asked so that sends a message that I am available,” he said.

The vaccine was developed by the late university professor William Halford.