Reporter
rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
Relatives of a child born with complications from Zika and the head of the disease’s foundation are seeking the President and Prime Minister’s intervention in getting help for these children.
It comes as the State filed its appeal of a High Court ruling that it failed in its duty to provide specialised care for another baby born with Zika and ordered that it pay significant compensation. If successful in having the High Court ruling set aside, the State wants the family to bear the costs of the appeal and the substantive matter.
Grandmother of one of several children born with Zika complications in T&T, Maura Cooseelal described the news that Justice Joan Charles’ judgment will be appealed as “embarrassing.”
“When we heard and read the ruling by Justice Joan Charles, we breathed a sigh of relief that we were now seeing the light after six years waiting in the doldrums ... And lo and behold, our Minister of Health, who should be sympathetic and empathetic about the plight of these children and their families, decided to appeal the judgment. How embarrassing! Does the Minister of Health have a heart? Is he human?” she asked.
She lamented that families, like hers, struggle to support these children given the extent of their disabilities and the high cost of the specialised treatment needed.
Cooseelal called on President Christine Kangaloo and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to intervene. “I am appealing to the President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to look into this very urgent matter and seek redress for these children and their families,” she added.
In the May 26 ruling, Justice Charles upheld a judicial review lawsuit brought against Deyalsingh, the ministry’s permanent secretary, and the Attorney General’s Office by Kavita Ramkissoon-Ragoo on behalf of her son Davyn.
Justice Charles ruled that Deyalsingh and the ministry’s permanent secretary breached their duties under the Regional Health Authorities Act by failing to implement comprehensive guidelines and protocols for treating Davyn and other children like him.
She stated that both Deyalsingh and the ministry’s permanent secretary would have been aware of their duties but failed to explain why they did not comply.
She also stated that it constituted a breach of the country’s international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Justice Charles ruled that the ministry’s failure to provide urgent and specialised care to Davyn breached his constitutional right to life and ordered that he and his family receive compensation including aggravated damages, which are to be calculated by a High Court Master at a later date.
She also ordered that the ministry take immediate steps to begin providing Davyn with the treatment he needs and to provide financial assistance to his family on an ongoing basis.
Among the State’s 27 grounds for appealing the ruling is the belief that the judge erred in law and “is wholly wrong” in declaring that the failure of the State to take appropriate measures to provide urgent and specialised healthcare to the minor is in breach of his constitutional right to life as guaranteed under Section 4(a) of the Constitution.