Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie says National Security Minister Edmund Dillon will meet again with Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart in an attempt to meet the demands of the officers.
He said so during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
Dillon met with Stewart on Wednesday, two days after prisons superintendent David Millette, 50, was killed outside his Morvant home.
Dillon said the killing seemed to be part of an attack on national security officers as Millette was the second officer to be killed within four days.
Cuffie said Dillon and Stewart would meet again next week with a view to ensuring more was provided to the officers.
The Prisons Officers Association has given the Government one month to meet its demands, including allowing officers to carry guns, or face a shutdown of the nation’s prisons.
Cuffie said Dillon would meet the prison authorities “to discuss all the issues they have raised.”
Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart said on radio on Tuesday the lives of prisons officers were being sacrificed while the authorities have ignored the pleas of the Prisons Service.
Stewart said at a news conference at Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, on Tuesday the number inmates at the Remand section had reached 2,000. Prisons officers were also demanding that they be granted permission to carry guns.
Cuffie said yesterday: “This is a pressing matter and it is an important matter for the Government.”
He said Dillon was attempting to “work out” how best he could meet the demands of the Prisons Service.
Funeral arrangements for Millette are yet to be finalised as family members are awaiting on relatives to come from abroad.
Millette’s mother, Phyllis, said yesterday her daughter, who lives in England, was yet to arrive, so too were other relatives.
On another matter Cuffie said a Cabinet-appointed committee was set up yesterday to rationalise the work of public sector doctors in private service.
Cuffie said the committee, to be chaired by Dr Winston Welch, would also “review the levels of healthcare delivery by the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs).
The other members of the committee are Dr Wayne Frederick, Professor Carl Theodore, Martin de Gannes, Dr Adesh Sirjusingh and Valarie Rawlins. Cuffie said an additional member was to be included in due course.
Asked to elaborate on the rationale for the committee, Cuffie said there had been public concern about the quality of service provided by the RHAs over the past years.
He added: “There are also issues surrounding the employment of doctors in the private sector who are also assigned to the RHAs. It is to look at the delivery of health care generally by the RHAs.”
Cuffie said the review was to determine if the best value was being received and what changes could be implemented to improve it.
He said the work of the committee would precede “a wider consultation on the delivery of health care and the health system generally.”
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley spoke about the issue on Wednesday at the University of the Southern Caribbean.
He specifically said the issue of adequate compensation for nurses must be addressed as the country’s most qualified professionals were leaving the country to work abroad.