Barbados will soon have a dedicated health communications team to better inform the country about all matters related to the spread and treatment of COVID-19.
The team is being set up to ease some of the pressure off Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic, chairman of the Cabinet COVID-19 Sub-committee Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, and public health officials.
Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), former minister of health Liz Thompson, is being brought back to the island to be part of the team, along with president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, Dr Lynda Williams; communications and marketing specialist Tyson Henry, who is based in Dominica, and a fourth person who is being targeted, Mottley said during a national address from Ilaro Court on Friday.
The Prime Minister said the intention had been to invite Thompson back home from New York at the end of this month to fulfil another project, but the current COVID-19 environment had fast-tracked the need for her return. The former St James South Member of Parliament is expected on island by this weekend.
Thompson will be replaced as the Permanent Representative to the UN by Francois Jackman, the ambassador to China, who is based in Beijing.
“We accept that the communication of the Government can be a little stronger and better on this issue, in particular from the Ministry of Health. This will allow us to focus on what we must execute. We are juggling a lot. The notion that Minister Bostic and I can come here, or Minister Walcott, and talk is going to be difficult,” Mottley said.
“Part of the struggle of being a small country is that we do not have the depth of resources generally.” (BA)
