The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRINCESS Margaret Hospital has temporarily suspended elective surgeries that require overnight stay due to limited bed capacity because of ongoing ward renovations among other issues, health officials confirmed on Monday.

Aubynette Rolle, Public Hospitals Authority managing director, told The Tribune that a lack of availability in beds coupled with a surge in the number of patients seeking hospital admission after the holidays led to the decision to postpone elective surgeries.

“Post the holiday, we have now seen a lot of admissions and you know that we are doing renovations. We would’ve spoken about that a few weeks ago and, therefore, we have a few of the wards that are closed for renovations and as a result of that, we cannot do those elective cases,” Ms Rolle said.

“So, what happens is that when you go to surgery, you have to be guaranteed a bed afterward and because of that, we have had to postpone them.”

She also explained that elective surgeries that do not require an overnight hospital stay will still be performed as scheduled.

“Those day cases, meaning those who just come in for surgery and can go home that same day, are still being scheduled and being performed but those persons who are requiring a stay over post-surgery, those individuals, we have now had to cancel some of those cases,” she added.

“So, they are not persons who need a caesarian section and those because they happen, and you cannot control when the babies are coming but the other cases.”

Officials anticipate that operations will be back to normal by next week as more patients are transferred to Doctors Hospital West.

An agreement to allow for the transfer of PMH patients to Doctors Hospital West to facilitate much needed repairs at PMH was announced last month.

However, Bahamas Nurses Union President Amancha Williams told The Tribune on Monday that officials have not been moving fast enough in this regard and called for patients to be transferred more quickly so other people needing care can be accommodated.

“Elective surgeries have been suspended due to the fact of not COVID, but you know that we (are) working with a small space in A and E (Accident and Emergency Department) and, this weekend, we’ve had 31 patients for admissions,” Ms Williams said.

“We’ve had boarders. We’ve had about no more than three or four COVID cases and we still have persons waiting for COVID tests and here again, the government said that our patients are supposed to be going over to Doctors Hospital.

“They’re not moving as fast as we would like. For what reason I don’t know, if we are paying you to do a service for us, when you know that we are in a crisis at this time, it should be moving faster.”

She added: “The organisation, whoever is organising that, if we have five patients today, come and get the five patients — don’t wait three or four days afterwards to get the five patients when you’ve already did an internal assessment and see the conditions of your patient.”

Ms Williams told The Tribune that PMH is in a “serious crisis” and in need of help as she lamented the deteriorating state of infrastructure at the hospital.

“Our infrastructure has failed us,” she continued. “We’ve got almost seven wards down, including the half of paediatric, which has been down for years. It’s deteriorating, and the ones that the nurses are working in are still not up to the level. Right now, in oncology, there is no air-conditioning for almost two weeks (or) three weeks this week.”

The BNU president said while the union appreciates and understands that a number of wards are currently undergoing renovations, the reality is the country is in need of a new and functioning hospital.

“We’re building on a break down system,” Williams added.

“We’ve been waiting for that Accident and Emergency for almost three years, going on almost four years. It has not been fixed yet. Yes, we understand you are repairing an old building and you will come up with some stuff — old wires, old pipes, old this — but you should have already known your structure on what you are anticipating coming in to.

“Yes, we thank Dr Darville because I know he has his hands full... (we) have a number of issues in nursing and I stay fighting. It’s just like we need a structural organisation.”

Last week, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville told reporters that renovations at PMH were on target to be completed in the next several weeks.

He had previously reported that hospital renovations would take place for approximately 14 weeks.