Money must go to QEH departments most in need

The environment of the island’s main medical establishment came under scrutiny by the Opposition Barbados Labour Party.

Speaking during the debate on the Appropriation Bill 2017 allocation of $244.9 million to the Ministry of Health, MP for St. George South, Dwight Sutherland, insisted that since a significant chunk of that money would be going to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), it was critical to ensure that the funds were going where most needed.

“Is what we are doing at the QEH patient centred? Is it motivating the staff? Are the doctors fully equipped with the necessary resources? Does the ICU have the complement of nurses? Are we doing the necessary analyses and are we focusing in the right direction?” he stressed.

He suggested that it may be time to look at having a full 24-hour facility, not only in terms of medical service, but also in the clerical departments, to allow transactions to be made around the clock.

Agreeing that the primary care facilities should be taking some of the load off of the QEH, he told the Lower House that the polyclinics must also cater towards a 24-hour operation.

“A number of persons go to QEH with minor issues and take up valuable nurses’ and doctors’ time that could have been dealt with at the primary facilities, and I am asking that the honourable minister look, at least in the very short term, at opening two of these polyclinics for 24-hours.

“I do not see why we cannot have the polyclinics, at least two, being run over a 24-hour period, because it would take a lot of load off of the Accident and Emergency…

“These are some of the things we have to focus on if we are talking about patient-centred health care,” Sutherland added. (JMB)