Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar was sched­uled to leave last night, on a pri­vate jet, for New York to be at the bed­side of her sis­ter Sal­ly Ahamad.Ahamad, the PM's el­dest sis­ter, is sched­uled to un­der­go surgery for an undis­closed med­ical con­di­tion next week.A re­lease is­sued by the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter yes­ter­day said Per­sad-Bisses­sar was tak­ing "time off on com­pas­sion­ate grounds to be close to her fam­i­ly at a time of great need."

It said Per­sad-Bisses­sar was "mak­ing this vis­it to be at the bed­side of her el­dest sis­ter Sal­ly, who has en­coun­tered a se­ri­ous med­ical sit­u­a­tion and is in hos­pi­tal re­quir­ing surgery."With­in days of as­sum­ing of­fice, Per­sad-Bisses­sar went to Pi­geon Point, To­ba­go, on June 1, 2010, to at­tend the wed­ding of her niece Karen Ahamad, Sal­ly's daugh­ter.

Dur­ing Per­sad-Bisses­sar's ab­sence from the coun­try, Labour Min­is­ter Er­rol Mc Leod will act as Prime Min­is­ter. Sources said it was un­clear whether the PM would re­turn to the coun­try be­fore the start of the new year on Wednes­day.