The debate on the Public Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2026, moved to the Senate, with the Government emphasising that the proposed changes to construction approvals do not remove the Minister of Health’s oversight of public health in Trinidad and Tobago.
The amendment addresses the role of the County Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) in the construction-permitting process without removing the Minister of Health’s oversight of public health concerns.
Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen said the provision was requested by the Ministry of Health to ensure that, once the amendment takes effect, CMOH approval would no longer be required for the relevant applications.
She said pending applications will be handled by the Regional Corporation in which the development falls, with arrangements being made before the legislation is proclaimed.
“The Ministry, this Ministry has asked for that provision – so on commencement, no CMOH approval can be required, so pending applications will be determined by the Regional Corporation that they fall under. The intention is that they be routed to the Corporation rather than applications having to begin again, and the arrangements will be settled before the Act is proclaimed. So there is no need for applicants to do over their application to send it back anywhere because both the Regional Corporation and the CMOH already have these applications.”
Reiterating concerns about corruption within the public service, Minister Ameen warned that Government would not tolerate bribery involving persons seeking or holding public positions.
“Let them be investigated. There’s a process where those persons can be removed because there are persons who everybody know what they’re doing. They are public servants. They drive luxury vehicles. They build mansions. They have apartments all over the place, and they are not doing that on a public servant salary. So while many would point to politicians when they talk about corruption, the fact is that within the public service you have to root out the bad ones.”
Senator Dr Natalie Chaitan-Maharaj stated that removing construction permitting from the CMOH’s responsibilities would free up time to address other health concerns, such as communicable and non-communicable diseases.
“The indirect cost of all the non-communicable diseases that this CMOH would be able to address, minus having to deal with construction permitting, is 3.3 billion lost nationally yearly. These are the numbers that our CMOH will now have the chance to pay attention to, not the size and square footage of a lot. This amendment allows for the CMOH and their staff, my former colleagues, to dedicate their time to the truly impactful part of their jobs.”
The Public Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2026, is now expected to proceed to a third reading in the Senate, with Government proposing that the legislation be passed on Friday, September 18th.