By Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 16th March 2023)- “So even before we move to the new hospital, we have to make sure that our hospital presently can deliver quality service.” This was what Prime Minister and Minister of Health Dr.
Terrance Drew said while giving an update on what the government has been doing in regard to improving service at the Joseph N.France General Hospital, during his appearance on Freedom FM’s ‘Issues’ programme aired live on Wednesday 15th March 2023. New medical equipment, new specialist doctors, EMS training and transportation for nurses were among the areas covered during his presentation.
Talking about what has been happening at JNF General Hospital, he shared that the number of doctors has increased at the emergency room and also that there is system “in place where you can meet a nurse as soon as you reach in the emergency room and cut down the wait time, an that again we are implementing, and that again had never been done in that type of systematic way where you actually have a triage nurse…” Dr. Drew highlighted that there was a recent orientation for workers at the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and that training is slated to begin in April this year. “[there was] an initial meeting… and now gearing up to have full fledged training of the EMS so there certification here, it can be applied to anywhere else across the region…” Addressing caring for the well-being of nurses in the federation, he outlined recent legislation passed which would now see that nurses can register once every two years instead of yearly.
Transportation issue of getting nurses home after working late night shifts, he pointed out, would be resolved permanently between this week and next week. Dr. Drew informed that the government has bought an MRI machine which is being built and will be transported this year and to be installed as well.
He said presently some surgeries at the eye clinic cannot be done because there was no sanner and also the microscope was not available as it was old and crashed. “Scanner is here and the second thing we will be getting is the microscope which has already been shipped and should arrive by Thursday and we’re hoping to resume eye surgery very soon.
There are people who are blind or losing their eyesight because these surgeries are not taking place. We are bringing in these equipment; we try to get the best that is there to offer. They cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but the people deserve it and that is why we decided to go and buy.” Dr.
Drew said eye surgeries will be started “very very soon.” The Health Minister expressed delight in the number of significant health investments thus far by the government. “We have made a number of significant investments in health and I am.happy with where we are going.
There are going to be changes, and people must expect that there are going to be changes. However, with the changes we are saying there must be buy-in from all the staff….because we cannot continue. We know how we met health, we know what the situations were and these changes will become part of the culture of health care delivery here in St.
Kitts and Nevis but apart from the training, we’re also having more specialists coming in.” Additionally, he spoke about expecting a “visiting surgeon who would help us to step up with our surgical department” and that a neurologist doctor who deals with headaches, strokes and so forth is also expected whilst noting that “ and because of the high cases we have here, we need a specialist with that.” Also expected are “Two more internal medicine doctors to deal with other types of things so that we are properly better fully
