The Min­istry of Health and Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh have ex­tend­ed heart­felt con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly and friends of for­mer health min­is­ter, Dr Emanuel Ho­sein, who passed away to­day, Au­gust 5, 2024.

“He will be re­mem­bered for his years of ser­vice and ded­i­ca­tion to coun­try and for cham­pi­oning the cause for per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties, which earned him the Cha­co­nia medal Gold in 2022,” the Min­istry said in an of­fi­cial state­ment.

Dr Emanuel Christi Ho­sein served as Min­is­ter of Health dur­ing the pe­ri­od 1986 to 1991 and was a Mem­ber of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives dur­ing the 3rd Re­pub­li­can Par­lia­ment (1986-1991).

The for­mer gov­ern­ment min­is­ter was in­stru­men­tal in help­ing draft and pi­lot this coun­try’s do­mes­tic vi­o­lence leg­is­la­tion, dur­ing his tenure as Min­is­ter of Gen­der and Women's Af­fairs.  He of­ten spoke at sem­i­nars and work­shops con­cern­ing do­mes­tic vi­o­lence is­sues.

A sur­vivor of the 1990 at­tempt­ed coup, he was quite open about his ex­pe­ri­ences dur­ing that pe­ri­od and would re­call hav­ing to use his med­ical ex­per­tise to as­sist those wound­ed in the Par­lia­ment dur­ing the siege.

As a child, Dr Ho­sein was di­ag­nosed with a se­vere strain of po­lio that left him paral­ysed for six months.  Af­ter a year in the Princess Eliz­a­beth Home, and sev­er­al surg­eries, and in­tense physio to re-learn how to walk, a young Emanuel was left with his sig­na­ture limp.

It was this ex­pe­ri­ence and his even­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty that en­cour­aged him be­com­ing a pow­er­ful ad­vo­cate for the dis­abled com­mu­ni­ty.

He served as Chair of The Trinidad and To­ba­go Chap­ter of Dis­abled Peo­ples In­ter­na­tion­al, as well as Chair of the UN Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al’s Coun­cil on Dis­abil­i­ty, ad­vo­cat­ing for the dif­fer­ent­ly abled, both at home and abroad.

He was award­ed the Cha­co­nia Medal Gold (Long and Mer­i­to­ri­ous Ser­vice/tend­ing to pro­mote na­tion­al wel­fare/strength­en com­mu­ni­ty spir­it) for his years of ser­vice and ded­i­ca­tion to fight­ing for the rights of the dis­abled per­sons in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

In re­cent years, Dr Ho­sein was ap­point­ed and served as a Com­mis­sion­er on the Trinidad and To­ba­go Equal Op­por­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion.

Dr Ho­sein grad­u­at­ed from sixth form at St Mary’s Col­lege in 1969. He earned his med­ical de­gree at The Uni­ver­si­ty of The West In­dies Mona cam­pus,