CMO: All Precautions Taken To Deal With COVID-19 In Prisons

The Ministry of Health is assuring that all precautions have been taken to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19 in the nation's prisons. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram says the prison system has had its own parallel system in place for some time to deal with Positive and suspected patients. Dr. Parasram adds this is being considered as an 'outbreak' and assures that the Ministry will provide support. Dr. Parasram addressed the issue at today's Ministry of Health Virtual Media Conference on COVID-19. Meanwhile in a media release, the Prison Officers' Association is demanding that a more aggressive response be taken to ensure the lives of Officers and Inmates are protected as much as possible. It believes the provision of PPE equipment within the Prison System is either insufficient or absent, which may be due to continued cuts to the budgetary allocation to the Prison Division. The Association is calling for a proper operational audit to be conducted to ensure activities are continuously monitored and assessed to limit cross contamination and infection.