St Clair Med to do 100 same-day surgeries

Private hospital, St Clair Medical, will be doing approximately 100 same-day surgeries (eg hernia cataract, prostate biopsies) as a goodwill gesture to needy persons currently on the backlog of surgical cases at health facilities in the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA). The Health Ministry had planned a media briefing at the Ministry last week to announce the arrangement but it was postponed.

Newsday has been reliably informed that the gesture is for people who are on waiting lists and cannot afford surgeries in the private sector. The idea has been in the works since last year and a source told Newsday that initially St Clair Medical wanted to offer the surgery to the public but, to speed up the screening process for “deserving cases” it was decided that cases should come from referrals from the Social Welfare Department of hospitals. The source said surgeons will select cases, hold consultations with them and schedule a time for surgery.

The first batch of 50 is expected to be done over a one to two-week period next month. Surgeries were to start this month but there was a delay in getting a list of patients from the Health Ministry. Later in the year, another 50 will be done. A new operating table has been bought by St Clair to deal with the free surgery cases. The source disclosed that St Clair Medical has approached the corporate community for assistance in subsidising the surgeries. A few businesses have already indicated their interest in helping.