(Trinidad Express) Approximately 1,000 nationals are expected to be repatriated to Trinidad and Tobago in the coming weeks.
This according to National Security Minister, Stuart Young who told members of the media at a press conference yesterday that arrangements were being made to receive hundreds of stranded nationals from multiple locations.
Citing groups of citizens across the globe who have recently petitioned to return, Young said the Government remains empathetic to their struggles. He said that all the arrangements being made were done to avoid overwhelming the current parallel healthcare system.
“We are very sympathetic and we have a lot of empathy for all of our nationals outside. We understand the difficulties each family is facing. It comes down to numbers in our public health system and what our public health system can control,” he said.
According to Young, 10 nationals in Guyana and 30 from Venezuela are expected to return this week, alongside 98 rig workers, and approximately 360 nationals who were on board Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
Workers on these cruise ships, he said, would be picked up in Barbados and sail to Trinidad where they will remain quarantined onboard the ship.
They are expected to arrive on Friday.
A team of doctors from the Ministry of Health will supervise these individuals as they undergo the state protocols.
Each person will be housed in a separate cabin to avoid interaction.
Young said: “Yesterday we successfully completed discussions with Royal Caribbean cruise line and we expect between 326 to 360 Royal Caribbean workers, who are our nationals to return on Friday coming. We have managed to negotiate that they are being put on a ship in Barbados. We had nationals come from as far as Europe and Royal Caribbean will put them all on a ship and they will sail into our waters. They will start on Friday once they arrive here.”
“The Ministry of Health is preparing a team of doctors to test everyone when they arrive here on Friday. Then they will be quarantined in the ship. We expect all of them to stay in their cabins. The company has agreed that each cabin will have their own bathroom facility s there is no need for interaction so we can manage the state quarantine. Even in that state our doctors will be on a daily basis monitoring these 326 to 369 workers so you can understand the capacity issues. So even though they are not in state quarantine facilities we are still required through our Ministry of Health personnel to quarantining them,” he said.
He also spoke of Prakash Jaglalsingh, a visually impaired man who was stranded in St Lucia following the border closure on March 23. Young said that arrangements were made by the Ministry to allow Jaglalsingh who is unable to fund his own return, to be returned on a privately funded chartered flight.
This flight was funded by an employer who was seeking to return five nationals stranded in Nevis. These five are alongside Jaglalsingh are expected to return on Wednesday.
