16 to move out hospital

The homeless are 12 adults and four children, who were abandoned by relatives after they were admitted to the hospital. In most cases, they have been living at the institution for more than a year. A hospital official yesterday said the patients occupy beds on wards nine, 10, 11, and 12.

Health Minister John Rahael said last week that the Community Care Unit, part of the Health Sector Reform Programme, would be responsible for finding places for the patients.

Yesterday, SFGH medical chief of staff Dr Austin Trinidade confirmed the live-in patients are a sore issue.

“We definitely have a problem with persons being abandoned at the institution. The paediatric ward have had several cases of abandoned children, but over the years we have discovered quite a few cases where adults, both male and female, were being abandoned by their families,” Trinidade said.

Trinidade explained that several of the patients abandoned were persons who required special care because of their medical condition. Saying the “long staying” patients contributed to overcrowding at the hospital, Trinidade said he welcomed the move by Rahael to rid health institutions of abandoned patients. “Hospitals are acute stay facilities and should not be used to dump patients.”

South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) communications specialist, Nalini Parasam, commented: “SWRHA is currently working together with the Community Care Unit, which is responsible for selecting special homes for the long staying patients.” Parasam added the patients were being assessed by medical social workers and based on the evaluations they would be placed in the relevant home.