The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ELECTIVE surgeries at Princess Margaret Hospital have once again been cancelled due to overcrowding at the public hospital, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands revealed yesterday.

The decision to temporarily suspend elective procedures was made on Monday, according to Dr Sands, who noted yesterday the hospital has been challenged with overcrowding compounded by shortages of beds and nurses.

“A major issue at PMH right now includes the challenge of getting people into beds. The knock on effect is the impact on surgery, because if you have a hospital that is full, then you can’t bring in people for elective surgery,” he told reporters outside of Cabinet.

“We are literally in the process on renovating more space but again, you could have all the spaces in the world, but if you don’t have nurses then that’s a problem…”

Added to these issues, the Elizabeth MP noted, is the longstanding problem of boarders at the hospital.

“We have 39 boarders in hospital right now and again, we’ve talked about this over and over and over where people bring their loved ones there and leave them and so we now have to look at an option to put people into nursing homes,” the health minister said.

“And the question is whether this is something that is going to be borne by the public purse so when you bring your mother to the hospital and leave her or when you bring your father to the hospital and leave him, then the public ends up having to pay for that.

“I recognise that we live in serious times and people have great, great challenges, but fundamentally, we have to ask how do we care for our loved ones and what is our responsibility for our loved ones?”

Asked when will elective surgeries resume at PMH, Dr Sands replied: “It’s on an hour-by-hour basis. Right now, we’re so stretched in the emergency room that the ambulance trollies are being used for beds. It’s a very serious issue.

“… We had 106 people in the emergency room on (Monday). Like I said, 49 potential admissions that’s now down and 39 boarders in hospital.”

This is not the first time elective surgeries at PMH had to be suspended.

In fact, just earlier this month, procedures were suspended for a week due to the hospital’s malfunctioning sterilisation equipment.

In an effort to meet healthcare demands, the Minnis administration had previously said it would implement fees to generate increased revenue for the nation’s public hospital.

Asked if the government was still considering increasing hospital fees, Dr Sands said: “...We now have the new registration system in place (and) the new software. We’ve dealt with the breach in the IT system so, the hope is we can generate more revenue. (But), that is offset when you have unexpected increased expenses. 

“So, if now the government finds itself in a position or the PHA finds itself in a position where it now has to fund housing for people who have been discharged from hospital but have not been collected from their family members, then that’s a significant unexpected expense.”