‘Barbados is too filthy’

Calls for health care system to be cleaned up

 

OPPOSITION Leader Mia Mottley has drawn attention to a number of challenges in the healthcare system.
 
During her no-confidence motion debate, the Opposotion Leader said the Barbados Labour Party had indicated support for the expenditure on resources to allow for debushing to rid the country of vectors such as mosquitoes and rats.
 
She said the Ministry of Tourism got on board, recognising that Zika had the potential to impact visitors of child bearing age and married couples, even grasping the attention of the World Health Organisation.
 
The BLP Leader said the reality is that “Barbados is too filthy”. She drew reference to the fact that garbage is being collected in some instances by open back vehicles rather than compactor trucks.
 
She also lamented that there is a need for 35 trucks, however, in the last two and a half years the numbers have dropped to ten to 20 trucks. She acknowledged that a tender has gone out but exhorted that it is not soon enough. Furthermore, she charged that the tipping fee led to indiscriminate dumping.
 
The Opposition Leader also queried about the number of fogging machines working and the number of vector investigation specialists that are on the job.
 
It was further charged that the derelict buildings in Barbados are affecting ordinary Barbadians and lamented that the programme which saw these buildings being knocked down and the bill being sent to the land tax owner has not been seen in seven years. She said this must be a priority recognising that these old buildings harbour not only vectors, but also criminals.
 
As it relates to the QEH, the Opposition Leader charged that the current Minister of Health is disinterested in healthcare but speaks about systems rather than patient care issues.
 
She said it has reached a stage where persons are afraid to go into the Accident and Emergency Department. Mottley told the Honourable House that the equipment to carry out colonoscopy is currently not working and hasn’t been for one month. It was pointed out that this could cause an underlying condition in a patient to worsen at a rapid rate.
 
She charged that there are ceiling tiles missing and flooring exposed which should not be in a sterile environment in the island’s only acute care facility. Furthermore, the nurses and doctors have to be commended for working under difficulty circumstances, particularly since non-national nurses were sent back and nurses are expected to fill that void.
 
Mottley told the Honourable House that Government has to prioritise what happens at the QEH and the Psychiatric Hospital charging that in the case of the latter it has taken five to six years to build a kitchen. It is unacceptable that some persons at the Psychiatric Hospital, some of whom are diabetic, are served breakfast between 10:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. (JH)

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