From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
Toxicologist in Nassau to support Rubis investigation
By Elcott Coleby, BIS
May 28, 2015 - 7:47:08 PM
The key health stakeholders posed for a group photo at the Ministry of Health on Thursday, 28th May 2015. From left is Dr. Pearl McMillan, Director of Public Health; Charlene Bain, Community Health Services Administrator; Dr. Glen Beneby, Chief Medical Officer; Minister Gomez, Dr. Rik Van de Weerdt, Consultant Toxicologist; Marco Rolle, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health; Kelly Kavanagh Salmond, PAHO/WHO Consultant and Else van Schundel, PAHO Consultant.
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Nassau, Bahamas - Making good on the government’s promise to identify
expert assistance to support its ongoing Rubis health investigations, Minister
of Health the Hon. Dr. Perry Gomez welcomed Netherlands born Toxicologist Dr.
Rik Van de Weerdt to the team during a briefing session at the Ministry of
Health today.
“I am pleased to note that a Toxicologist all the way
from the Netherlands is here in The Bahamas to assist us in the issues surrounding
the Rubis oil spill. The government is living up to its promises and we hope
that we will be much better off as a ministry and a country as a result of
these consultations” said the Health Minister. He also advised that an
Epidemiologist with extensive experience in working with the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) is scheduled to join the team of health consultants shortly.
Also welcoming Dr. Weerdt was Chief Medical Officer Dr.
Glen Beneby.
“We are very pleased to welcome the Toxicologist at the
invitation of PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) at our request to help us
prepare the road map going forward on the Rubis oil spill” said Dr. Beneby. He
said that he was happy that Dr. Weerdt had started his work and pointed out
that the Ministry has compiled information from the incident that will be
shared with Dr. Weerdt to be used as a reference point in his consultative work.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the
World Health Organization (WHO) were instrumental in securing the services of
Dr. Weerdt and according to its consultant – Social Determinants of Health for
The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Kelly Kavanagh Salmond, PAHO seeks to achieve
two main objectives during this process. One is to support the ongoing government
protocols as requested and the other is to engage in dialogue with specific
organizations to establish a road map going forward and incorporating their recommendations
into the team’s overall strategy. Additionally, Ms. Salmond advised that under
PAHO’s human resource regime, surveillance and response to chemical events and
incidences are also taken into account when recommendations are made.
Key stakeholders are pictured during their briefing session with Health Minister Gomez, center. Consultant Toxicologist Dr. Weerdt is pictured far left.
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