The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville yesterday asked the public to “please bear” with his ministry as officials seek to address bed shortages at Princess Margaret Hospital and also carry out repairs at the facility.

Dr Darville spoke to reporters after Bahamas Nurses Union president Amancha Williams on Tuesday raised alarm about the lack of beds at the Accident and Emergency Department at PMH, saying the hospital was in “crisis”.

When questioned on the issue yesterday, the minister admitted limitations with bed space at PMH which he attributed to ongoing renovations at the facility.

However, he said the matter is now under control.

“Well, there’s no question there is a situation (at) Accident and Emergency that has been going on for some time,” Dr Darville told reporters outside Parliament.

“We got all of the signs months ago that we would have challenges, particularly coming into the winter months and people influx to the Accident and Emergency.

“Yesterday, we had a backlog. The situation is presently under control. As you are aware, we are doing massive renovations at Princess Margaret Hospital, female surgical one, male medical two, the basement of the legacy unit and the list goes on and on.

“This has created some additional shortage of bed space; we ran into the contractual agreement with Doctors Hospital - that has been worked out.”

It was reported that 41 people on Tuesday were waiting to be admitted to Accident and Emergency.

Dr Darville yesterday described the backlog as “intense” and added that due to ongoing renovations, there will be times when the admissions rate at A and E “goes up”.

“But we assure the Bahamian people that the contractual agreement that we went into for repairs is somewhere between 14 to 18 (weeks) and we ask the general population to please bear with us,” he added.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to renovate these wards, we’re going to bring more beds on stream and we’re going to improve the working conditions for the patients as well as our physicians and nurses.”

Yesterday, Dr Darville was also asked what was being done to address a similar situation at the Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama.

“Well, as we speak right now there is land preparation for the foundation for our modular units that will act as the interim to address the backlog that is presently at Accident and Emergency at the Rand Memorial Hospital,” he replied.

“Those modular units are on the ground in Grand Bahama and once the foundation is done, they’re just basically to be connected, fully functional and that will de-bundle the situation at the Accident and Emergency at Rand Memorial Hospital.”

While declining to give a date for completion of the units’ installation, he said they should be up within the first quarter of the year.

He also gave an update on the government’s plans for a new hospital for the island, saying a site to house the facility has already been identified.

“The finalisation of the plot plan is near completion,” the minister added. “As you’re aware, we have to acquire additional land that pushed us back a few months but all of our teams, all of our steering committees, our architects are working very diligently for us to get the final approvals from the Grand Bahama Port Authority so that we can finalise the request for proposal and we could get shovel in the ground as soon as possible.”

As it relates to the new hospital planned for New Providence, Dr Darville said officials are now in the final stages of selecting a site.

This comes amid speculation that the future site of the new hospital will be in Highland Park, which is in the Killarney constituency.

Dr Darville did not name the site being eyed by the government yesterday, only saying that geotechnical studies were still being done but nearing completion.

“I don’t want to make an announcement and find out that we (have) carbonous holes underneath the ground because that’s very important for us and the topographic study, but I feel confident that the site we’re looking at now looks like it will be the potential site,” the minister continued.

“Once that’s completed and Cabinet makes the final decision, we will have to go in some meetings with communities that’s in close proximity because there’s no massive amount of land anywhere in New Providence that’s just sitting there by itself.

“It’s always close to residential communities and the communities need to know exactly what plans will be.”