News
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. – File photo by Angelo Marcelle
THE Prime Minister has returned home from the US where he underwent a routine medical check up.
The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) made the announcement in a statement on September 16.
Hours before the statement was issued, senior government officials Dr Rowley was in good health but they were uncertain about when he will return home.
Speaking on condition of anonymity on September 16, one official said no information has been received to indicate that Rowley has any health issues.
“He is very fit, probably more so than many (people) half his age.”
A second official said there has not been any indication that “the Prime Minister’s health is anything for us to be worried about.”
Rowley left for the US on September 1 to undergo a routine medical check up.
He said he would be going for scheduled medical tests in the US, when he addressed a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall on August 25.
Rowley said he was in good health, he has been postponing the routine medical examination he does in the US for the last two years.
Rowley, 74, added that his local doctors have advised him to do this examination and he has agreed with them.
In June 2022, Rowley underwent medical checks in Los Angeles.
Those checks included cardiac and prostate analysis.
He received a clean bill of health at that time.
Rowley decided to do his medical tests then after he attended the Ninth Summit of the Americas, which also took place in Los Angeles on June 6, 2022.
In January 2021, Rowley was admitted to West Shore Hospital, to be treated for a cardiac issue.
He was also given a clean bill of health then.
In 2019, Rowley underwent medical tests in the US to deal with a coronary issue which was detected in 2016.
Speaking at a news conference on March 3, 2019, at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s, Rowley said he currently suffers no symptoms that hamper his ability to perform his duties.
However his doctors – who have attended to him for the last 25 years in California – have asked him to prioritise his annual medical examination.
A 2016 coronary scan revealed Rowley had small soft plaque in one of his arteries and doctors said it should be monitored.
In 2017, doctors said it appeared as though the plaque was growing. The advice from his doctors then was that it should be monitored to determine whether further intervention might be required.
Rowley said, “I should have gone back to my doctors by September 2018 but given the nature of my job and procrastination giving priority to other matters, I did not for a year and a half look at this problem again.”
Energy Minister Stuart Young was appointed to act as prime minister during Rowley’s absence.
Young previously acted as prime minister in July while Rowley was attending a Caricom heads of government conference in Grenada.
Rowley missed the final sitting of the House of Representatives at the end of the last parliamentary term on September 9.
He also missed the House’s first sitting when the new term opened on September 13.
Rowley submitted no requests to be excused from either of those sittings.
After its September 13 sitting, the House adjourned to a date to be fixed.
