The UNC has called on the Ministry of Health to do more for those dealing with the negative effects of the Zika virus, especially children who were born with deformities because their mothers were infected with the virus during pregnancy.

Dr Rishad Seecharan, the UNC's shadow health minister and MP for Caroni East, made the comment during a UNC media conference on Sunday morning. He was accompanied by former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh.

During a Zika outbreak in TT in 2016, 294 pregnant women contracted the virus. Pregnant women are not currently tested for Zika unless they are symptomatic.

Zika can cause an array of serious birth defects including microcephaly and other brain abnormalities.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the US describes microcephaly as "a condition where a baby's head is much smaller than expected.

"During pregnancy, a baby's head grows because the baby's brain grows. Microcephaly can occur because a baby's brain has not developed properly during pregnancy or has stopped growing after birth, which results in a smaller head size."

Children with microcephaly can suffer from seizures, feeding problems, hearing loss, vision problems and learning difficulties during their lifetime.

Seecharan said, "I call on minister Deyalsingh to do his job and serve these families as they were his own. These children need specialised care to walk and to do many basic functions. It is a great burden on these affected families to undertake this care which they must do under personal cost."

He added that the State should be willing to do more since microcephaly is a lifelong commitment. He also asked Deyalsingh for Zika rehabilitation centres like that of the Associacao de Assistencia a Crianca Deficiente in Brazil, a rehabilitation centre for disabled children in the city of Recife.

Though TT lacks a rehabilitation centre, there is a Zika Foundation and its president is former chief of staff at the Mount Hope Women's Hospital, Dr Karen Sohan.

Calls for 24/7 healthcare in Guayaguayare

Seecharan also said the people of Guayaguayare are calling for round-the-clock health care. He said Guayaguayare residents were not able to get to the Mayaro Health Facility quickly enough in an emergency and ambulances coming from other health facilities took too long to arrive.

Seecharan said a resident from the area claimed that elderly people and children suffering from asthma were unable to get the health care when needed, especially on weekends when the Guayaguayare Outreach Health Centre was closed.

Speaking with Newsday on Sunday, Ronald Tsoi-a-Fatt CEO of the Eastern Regional Health Authority confirmed that Guayaguayare Outreach Health Centre was closed on the weekends since it was a remote facility.

He added that the health centre did have the level of services necessary to be opened 24/7.

Tsoi-a-Fatt clarified information on the Guayaguayare Outreach Health Centre which says that it opens on weekends saying, "Before covid19, we used to have a general-practice