Minister irrelevant on plan for Caura Hospital

THE EDITOR: SARS has revealed that our health-care service is not SARS quality!

The Minister of Health has repeatedly stated that he has mandated the Medical Director of Caura Hospital to get his institution ready for SARS patients. But while he makes these statements, the technocrats of the Ministry are planning for patients to be placed in Port-of-Spain General Hospital and Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. Small wonder, the Minister does not know what is taking place in his Ministry. Nothing new.

Caura Hospital was built for the purposes of quarantine and isolation, especially for tuberculosis. Over the years, especially the last ten, it was neglected and is now dilapidated. Health Sector Reform saw to that. As a result, it is in no position to house patients, that is, if the patients are to be housed under standardised and acceptable conditions. Presently patients are left on chairs, corridors and sometimes the floor. Health-care workers wait with bated breath for the implementation of the Patient’s Charter.

Not only is the infrastructure absent, there is no equipment and more importantly, no staff. SARS patients will need artificial ventilation and intensive care nursing. None is present at Caura Hospital. The statement of the Minister of Health is thus irrelevant.
* The infrastructure at the major institutions is not conducive to quarantine. But we have no choice but to work around the situation.
* There is presently a chronic and severe shortage of intensive care nurses as they have all left Trinidad and Tobago. The chairman of the SWRHA says that he does not need to retain local professionals in Trinidad and Tobago.
* There is a lack of ventilators, more importantly functioning ventilators. Patients with severe SARS infection and respiratory failure may run into problems.

By the end of April and certainly into May, many Trinbagonian students will be returning from Canada, especially the province of Ontario. These students will certainly change the epidemiology of SARS. During the summer vacation, international travel will further change the epidemiology, both locally and internationally. It is again expected that the Government and more importantly, the Ministry of Health will pay heed to the voices in the wilderness, the voices of the doctors who have been clamouring for improvement in the health-care system. Not only do we need local doctors but also our local doctors need to have an influential input in the planning of the health services.

PHILIP AYOUNG-CHEE
Urological Surgeon