Trinidad and To­ba­go cel­e­brat­ed the start of 2026 with joy and new be­gin­nings as hos­pi­tals across the coun­try wel­comed the first ba­bies of the year.

At San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal, Car­la Black­man gave birth to her ba­by boy at 12.10 am.

In a small cer­e­mo­ny, Dr Rishad Seecher­an, Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Health; Sad­dam Ho­sein, Min­is­ter of Lands and Le­gal Af­fairs; Dr. Lack­ram Bo­doe, Min­is­ter of Health; and mem­bers of the South West Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (SWRHA) Board of Di­rec­tors and ex­ec­u­tive team pre­sent­ed Black­man with to­kens of ap­pre­ci­a­tion.

Mean­while, at Point Fortin Hos­pi­tal, Krys­tal Lewis wel­comed her new­born son at 2.10 am. Sur­round­ed by rel­a­tives, nurs­es Hed­da Joseph-Mitchell and Tyne Nichols, Head Nurse Shurla Mon­segue, and Dr Man­isha Baldeosingh, Lewis re­ceived gifts to cel­e­brate the mile­stone.

In the East­ern Re­gion, the first ba­bies ar­rived at San­gre Grande Hos­pi­tal, where Adan­na Ward of Mal­abar gave birth to a healthy ba­by boy at 1.11 am, weigh­ing 2,960 grams. Li­censed mid­wife Von­net­ta Good­ing con­duct­ed the de­liv­ery.

Lat­er, at 8.45 am, Zen­nesha Sook­lal wel­comed an­oth­er ba­by boy weigh­ing 2,830 grams. ER­HA Chair­man Dr Sandeep Ma­haraj, CEO An­geli­na Ram­per­sad-Pierre, and ma­ter­ni­ty staff con­grat­u­lat­ed the moth­ers and pre­sent­ed them with gift ham­pers.

The To­ba­go Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (TRHA) al­so cel­e­brat­ed its first ar­rivals of the year at Scar­bor­ough Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

Ky­la James of Canaan gave birth to a ba­by girl at 4.57 am, fol­lowed short­ly af­ter by Kere­sha Wheel­er of Ma­son Hall, who wel­comed a ba­by boy at 5.26 am. Both moth­ers and their new­borns are re­port­ed to be in good health.

Dr Faith Breb­nor, Deputy Chief Sec­re­tary and Sec­re­tary of Health; Christlyn Moore, TRHA Board Chair; Dr Del­mon Bak­er, TRHA CEO; Dr Ains­ley Wal­dron, Act­ing Med­ical Chief of Staff at SGH; and ma­ter­ni­ty ward staff pre­sent­ed each moth­er with a ba­by gift box.