Same day surgery programme exceeding expectations

THE GOODWILL Programme established last month by the North-West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) and Medcorp Limited, to assist needy persons on hospital waiting lists for same day surgeries, is working better than expected. In a statement yesterday the NWRHA said the initiative was launched on April 20, “with the promise that surgeries will begin on May 3.” “We did even better than promised with the programme having started on May 1. To date, over 20 successful procedures have been performed,” the NWRHA release stated.

At 11.15 am today, Health Minister John Rahael will visit with the next group of patients who are to be treated under this programme, at the Good Health Medical Centre, 7 Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook. This batch of patients will undergo surgery today. During last month’s launch of the programme at the Good Health Medical Centre, programme chairman Issacson Byng said four orthopaedic, three urology and 43 general surgeries (mainly for hernia repairs) will be done at the Centre and advised of Medcorp’s willingness to help the NWRHA with additional cases on the condition that the NWRHA provide the “consumables for the surgeries.” Rahael expressed confidence that additional private hospitals would come on board and help the Ministry reduce the surgical backlog at the nation’s hospitals and an agreement with the private hospitals will be finalised, “before the end of the year.”

The minister said he hoped the Goodwill Programme “will be an annual event for at least five years.” Last month, Rahael announced that the Ophthalmological Society of TT will undertake 3,000 cataract surgeries at a cost of $7.5 million while $2.5 million will be spent to establish a state-of-the-art eye surgical theatre at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. Rahael said the waiting list for paediatric heart surgery had been eliminated through a collaboration between the Ministry, NWRHA and Medcorp subsidary.