President’s return from Cuba delayed
-no permission from doctors as yet to travel
While President David Granger was scheduled to return to Guyana yesterday in time to vote in today’s Local Government Elections, his office has confirmed that he will not be here and sources say that he has not been given the “okay to travel” by doctors in Cuba.
“The president will not be back in time for Local Government Elections,” Deputy Director of Press Affairs at the Ministry of the Presidency (MotP), Ariana Gordon told Stabroek News yesterday.
There was no word on when he would be returning or update on his medical condition but Minister of State Joseph Harmon said that government would tomorrow be issuing a further statement.
When asked by Stabroek News on Friday, Harmon had told this newspaper that he was not aware that the President would not be returning yesterday, since according to him “his ticket is scheduled for the 11th and nothing has changed, as far as I am aware.”
Sources had told this newspaper since last week, that doctors did not believe that the President was “strong enough to travel” and as such “did not give him the okay to travel although he wanted to return on Sunday.”
Accompanied by First Lady Sandra Granger, the President left Guyana on October 30th for Cuba for what the Ministry of the Presidency said was to “undergo a medical investigation.”
The president had a medical check-up in Trinidad and Tobago in May. It was announced by the Ministry of the Presidency that following that check-up he had been experiencing some “symptoms.”
No reference was made to the type of symptoms he had been experiencing.
Shortly before his departure on October 30th and speaking with a MotP press team, Granger, 73, related that he had travelled twice to Trinidad and Tobago and had done his annual medical check-up. One time in May where he had been given a clean bill of health and then shortly before October 30th.
“If I take you back over the last six months, I went to Trinidad and Tobago to do my annual medical examination which is normally done in August. I went in May because of the Congress of my party and the impending Local Government Elections,” he said.
However, on his return to work, the President said that he started to experience certain symptoms which were persistent, and took the decision to travel back to Trinidad to revisit the tests that were done in May.
“At that time, they discovered some symptoms which needed further investigation so I just agreed with that diagnosis and made arrangements to go to Cuba for further investigations. At this time, there is no clear indication of disorder or what the nature of the disorder is. It is a question of investigation and I think I can get the best advice in Cuba,” he stated.
While he does not suffer from a particular ailment, President Granger said that out of an abundance of caution, he took the decision to travel to Cuba to have the relevant medical investigation done.
“The Guyanese public should be assured that once those investigations are complete they would be kept abreast with the health of the President of the Republic,” he said.
On the 7th of November, the Department of Public Information issued an update on the President’s condition, informing that he was “resting comfortably at an official residence” following “an intensive series of tests by specialist doctors immediately after he arrived in Cuba on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.”
It said that he continued to receive treatment at Cuba’s Centro de Investigaciones Medico Quirugicas (CIMEQ) and responded satisfactorily.
“The President is receiving treatment at the Centro de Investigaciones Medico Quirugicas (CIMEQ) in Havana. Clinical analyses are still incomplete and it is expected that the Guyana Embassy in Havana will issue a statement when enough evidence is available. The Head of State has responded satisfactorily to medical interventions over the past week, however, and is recovering well,” the statement read.
This press release spoke of treatment and medical interventions whereas the earlier press release had only referred to a medical investigation.
Siboney
Cuba’s CIMEQ, located in the exclusive beach-based Siboney community of Havana, has some of the country’s most senior doctors, specialists and medical researchers attached to it.
It is the same hospital that Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez turned to when he was ill with cancer and where Cuba’s now deceased President Fidel Castro was treated from its establishment in 1982 up until his death in 2016 at age 90.
“It is an institution of high scientifictechnological level, which is part of the system of medical care and scientific development within the public health strategy of the Republic of Cuba...(It is) …classified as a general, specialized and teaching hospital, which due to its development can be considered a national reference. (It)..provides specialized medical, stomatological and nursing care, focused on prevention, healing and rehabilitation of patients in a comprehensive manner,” CIMEQ’s website states.
“The International Health Service of CIMEQ provides medical, nursing and stomatological assistance, whether emergency, ambulatory or hospitalized, aimed at foreigners residing in the country, accredited diplomats and tourists. Outstanding personalities from different parts of the world have received the benefits of Cuban medicine in our facilities, which have seen high rates of recovery, satisfaction with comprehensive and professional care, in addition to the human warmth received,” the website also says.