Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel, 69, travelled to Cuba, on Friday, for medical attention related to an issue with one of his legs, which saw him hospitalised in St. Vincent in February.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on radio, on Sunday, that he has decided to postpone an official visit to Morocco because of Daniel’s travels.
Gonsalves was scheduled to travel to London then Morocco beginning on April 5.
He said on WE FM that the issue with Daniel’s leg may be the result of a sciatic nerve problem.
“If he stands too much on his feet, it affects one of his legs,” Gonsalves said of Daniel, MP for North Windward and Minister of Transport, Works, Land and Surveys and Physical Planning.
“So, he has gone for a second opinion or any possible treatment in Cuba. The doctors were doing quite well but they themselves thought that a second opinion would be a good thing,” Gonsalves said.
He said that Daniel is accompanied by his son on the trip to Cuba.
The prime minister said he did not want to travel for a prolonged time with two of his ministers off work.
Minister of Urban Development, Energy, Airports, Seaports, Grenadines Affairs and Local Government, Senator Julian Francis, who suffered a stroke last July, is yet to return to work.
Gonsalves further said that Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves is also scheduled to travel to Washington, DC on official business this week.
“You have to make assessments as to where you should be. And I spoke to the Moroccans. They understood with the deputy prime minister being out and with the circumstances I just outlined … I thought that I should postpone that visit,” Gonsalves said.
He said that in the interim, Kingstown and Rabat will pursue arrangements made during a recent visit by a Moroccan delegation to SVG.
Gonsalves said he was scheduled to sign some agreements during his visit to Morocco.
Meanwhile, Daniel referred to his health issue on March 24, as he addressed the award ceremony of the Traffic Department of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.
He noted that it was the prime minister, who was out of state, who was scheduled to deliver that address.
Daniel said that when the head of the Traffic Department, Assistant Superintendent of Police Parnel Browne insisted that he attended the award ceremony, he told the officer that he was on sick leave.
“I said, ‘Sir, I’m on sick leave. And I don’t think I really can make it’,” Daniel said.
“So that to prove to the country that I can stand on both legs for quite some time, my doctors ordered me to rest as much as possible but at the same time to do all the physical exercises and to ensure that they are done,” Daniel said.
He needs physiotherapy.
Please recover your full health and mobility, soonest, my former Domino pardner. We will hold you in our thoughts and prayers. Gather the widest possible range of professional opinions and objective diagnoses.