Caribbean Times 89th Issue - Friday 9th September 2016

2 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Friday 9th September 2016
Making MSJMC more efficient
By Everton Barnes
Senior managers at the
Mount St. John’s Medical
Centre MSJMC) have
revealed that there is an
over-supply of beds at the
health institution and they
are currently implementing a
number of measures aimed at
improving overall efficiency
at the country’s public hospital.
The Medical Director of
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By Joanna Paris
The Potworks Dam now has the welcoming
amount of 100 million gallons of water.
Speaking during the weekly Cabinet press
briefing on Thursday, Minister of Information,
the Hon. Melford Nicholas indicated that the
country’s executive is very pleased with this
divine development.
He told the press that the Minister with responsibility
for Utilities, the Hon. Robin Yearwood
also expressed happiness with the level
of the water mark where one of the country’s
largest water catchment is concerned.
MSJMC, Dr. Albert Duncan
and the Chief Medical Officer,
Dr. Rhonda Sealy-Thomas
this week briefed the Cabinet
on the improvements and
the existing challenges that
are being addressed, in the
twelve-month period since the
Director assumed his function
on September 1 st last year.
The Medical Director reported
that there is an issue
of over-capacity at the hospital
with 184 beds but only
between 68 to 75 patients
occupying beds on any given
day. “There is overcapacity of
100 beds that may be required
in the event of a national
emergency. However, the deployment
of the nursing and
support staff and the administrative
personnel must be better
organized,” the Director
suggested.
According to Dr. Duncan
the hospital employs 78
doctors and 186 nurses; not
all doctors are on staff, many
are consultants. However, the
Cabinet was informed that the
old model of male wards and
female wards had to be abandoned
in order to maximize
the nursing staff complement
and the deployment of doctors.
“There are now male
rooms and female rooms, all
on the same floor, allowing
for improvement in the use
of the hospital staff. There is
also a complete review of the
inventory system to be completely
computerized, allowing
the doctors and nurses to
be informed of the supplies
that are (or are not) available,”
he explained.
The re-supply of necessities
will be vastly improved,
the Cabinet was told, when
the system is completely computerized.
The medical director also
announced plans to re-organise
other areas of the hospital’s
operation. He told the
Cabinet that with a payroll of
567, as many as can, will be
retrained in order to meet the
demands of a modern healthcare
facility. The Director also
reported on reduced waiting
time in the Emergency Room
of the MSJMC. In hospitals
in North America, he noted,
waiting time can be up to three
hours; the Director reported
that average wait time in the
MSJMC Emergency Room is
about 3 hours. The object is
to reduce that wait time to as
little as two hours, on average.
Dr. Duncan also reported
that the Operating Room is
the nerve center of any hospital
and every effort is being
made to improve the tools,
supplies and other needs of
the operating room. There are
three operating rooms at the
MSJMC.
“There are scores dialysis
patients at the MSJMC,
with an increase of 6 patients
annually. Renal transplants,
planned for this year, will
likely be postponed until the
MSJMC can undertake the
first transplant without any
impediments to success,” the
Director reported. He added
that cardiology, neurosurgery,
pediatric surgery and technical
applications of radiology
are commonplace challenges.
More trained radiologists are
required.
100 million gallons in Potworks Dam
“The amount of surface water certainly
will allow them to be able to distil at the water
treatment, some of that surface water will be
put back into the grid, so this is definite great
news”, said the Information Minister.
He further indicated that the government
plans to continue work to clean the land but
admitted that the recent rainfall will delay efforts
since it is now covered in water.
The V.C Bird International Airport recorded
4.5 inches of rain but there are reports indicating
that some areas recorded as much as 7
inches.