The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said the second phase of renovations to the Princess Margaret Hospital’s accident and emergency section should be completed before the end of October.

Bahamas Nurses Union President Muriel Lightbourn told The Tribune last week that nurses considered walking off the job amid poor working conditions at PMH.

She claimed the air conditioning in A&E was not working, frustrating nurses who deal with overcrowding and staff shortages.

Yesterday, Dr Darville acknowledged the union’s concerns and said conditions at PMH should improve later this year.

“I’m sure the media is aware that a large portion of the accident and emergency is under active renovation, and as a result of it, the nurses and doctors are working in cramped locations, and it has definitely impacted the smooth flow of the operation at the accident and emergency,” he said before a Cabinet meeting.

“To compound that, there was a problem with the chiller system, which happens sometimes in the middle of summer. Since then, we have resolved some of those issues, and the renovations of the accident and emergency is moving very rapidly and, hopefully, we are on schedule for that part of the renovations to hand over to the Public Hospital Authority for operation somewhere in October.”

Staff shortages prompted the Public Hospital Authority to issue a notice on Friday, advising non-emergency patients to contact their primary care physician or utilise community clinics for care.

Dr Darville said officials have since seen fewer people visit A&E, easing the burden on workers.

“I can say, yesterday, we had the opportunity to tour the accident and emergency and a lot of pressures that was there some weeks before has now been relieved,” he said. “The accident and emergency goes through waves. Sometimes it’s quiet; sometimes it’s bursting from the seams. We had an incident couple days ago where the challenges were very great to find individuals who have been admitted beds at the Princess Margaret Hospital, and that has settled down to some extent.”

“And the PHA did put a notice out so that some of those minor cases can be dealt with at our clinics and the private sector rather than people waiting for the middle of the night to address something that really is a primary healthcare component.”

He encouraged Bahamians seeking non-emergency care to visit community clinics.

“Utilise those facilities because we are renovating the accident and emergency room, and we ask the Bahamian people to bear with us because, by October, that asset will be in our remit and under our control, which means that we’ll be able to have better spaces, more leg room, more ability to handle cases and we are looking forward for that new portion of the accident and emergency to come on stream for our doctors and as well as our clients.”