The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

PLANS by the government to have the "legacy challenges" of the Accident and Emergency Department at Princess Margaret Hospital addressed this term were applauded yesterday by Shadow Minister of Health Dr Michael Darville, who called it "a step in the right direction".

Contacted by The Tribune for comment on the state of facilities at PMH, Dr Darville said he was pleased to read the pronouncements of Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands this week, insisting the PLP approved plans to renovate and refurbish both the A&E and maternity sections at the hospital prior to being voted out of office on May 10.

The former Pineridge MP said the Christie administration recognised the dire state of affairs at PMH and worked on several options to have the facility enhanced, remodelled or repaired.

Dr Darville said if not for its election loss, the Christie administration would have pressed ahead with plans to "address the urgent issues" at PMH.

"We had plans approved and work was set to get underway, but the election was upon us and those plans never went forward," Dr Darville told The Tribune. "But reading the plans being presented by (the Minnis administration), I am comfortable because it is clear that they see the urgency.

"This government looks to want to address the urgent issues and I am very pleased to see that," he added.

On Sunday, Dr Sands confirmed flooding from a broken pipe took the CAT scan and ultrasound machines out of commission causing significant delays to those needing diagnostics at PMH, in addition to forcing some patients to be relocated to the South Beach Clinic and others in some cases to wait for more than 24 hours.

Dr Sands at the time said the "perfect storm" was caused by years of "dumb and inappropriate decisions" and he is "honestly not sure" when a solution to the "mess" will be found.

Two days later, Dr Sands said the Minnis administration would work to make the A&E Department the best facility in the Caribbean within the next five years.

Stressing the current A&E facility was too small to ideally manage the 55,000 to 60,000 patients per year that it currently attends to, Dr Sands said the government will commence efforts this fiscal year.

"The quality of care that people perceive that they get and the quality of care that they actually get is best measured at ground zero, and ground zero is A&E at PMH," Dr Sands told reporters on Tuesday.

"When we get done in this five years, it will be the best emergency department in the Bahamas and in the Caribbean, full stop."

In May, Dr Sands said the former Christie administration left more than $25m in unpaid bills for medical equipment, rent, drugs and salaries at the Ministry of Health and the Public Hospitals Authority.