By MARISSA WILLIAMS Tobago Bureau Tuesday, June 26 2007

The Ministry of Health has come to the rescue of four-year-old Tobago cataract patient, Shinella Cooper, following an article in yesterday’s Newsday in which her grandfather, John Taylor, pleaded for help before she went blind.

Taylor, who also suffers with cataracts, had said Cooper has cataracts in her right eye and that small ones were being formed in the left and he was afraid she may be blind soon.

Yesterday communications specialist with the Ministry of health, Martin Forde, contacted Newsday’s Tobago Bureau and said the Ministry wanted to assist Cooper.

He said the Ministry will seek to have the procedure done as quickly as possible and perhaps arrange for the cataract removal surgery to be done in Trinidad.

“From what I understand, this is a straight forward case and this child should not have to lose her eyes over that,” he said.

Forde said the Ministry may even be able to assist Taylor with his surgery once all the necessary information is received.

He said that it will also look into the screening process in Tobago and whether there was a long waiting list for persons awaiting cataract removal surgery.

He said that the Ministry had recently advertised for persons awaiting cataract removal surgery to call a specific number for assistance and noted that the assistance was available to patients in both Trinidad and Tobago.

An elated Taylor told Newsday that he was grateful for the chance to save his granddaughter’s eyesight.