Porters under strain as St Thomas hospital elevator out of service again

Three years after a brand-new elevator was installed at the Princess Margaret Hospital in St Thomas, orderlies are now strenuously carrying patients up flights of stairs again as the lift is out of service.

The workers had been breathing a sigh of relief after a $21-million renovation project undertaken by the National Health Fund (NHF) at the Morant Bay-based health facility saw the installation of the current elevator, three years after the previous lift also stopped working.

During the commissioning in July 2019, the NHF said that the installation of the new elevator was geared towards not only raising the standard of services provided at the hospital, but also creating a better environment and improving the efficiency of the staff who deliver said services.

Hospital CEO Melecia Linton said efforts are currently under way to source and replace the damaged parts of the unit.

“We would have gone to market for the repair of the elevator. However, we recently came upon a challenge where the part that is to effect the repair is not available locally,” she told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

“The supplier has assured us that he is engaging his overseas supplier to source that part, and so we continue to aggressively follow up with the supplier to see how soon this part will become available so that the repairs can be completed.”

Linton said that the situation has caused discomfort and inconvenience to patients and staff.

“As you can understand, it’s not a situation that any of us are comfortable with because it does present risks, but we have to ensure that this service continues because each day, patients show up to the hospital for care, and so while it (manually lifting patients) is a situation that we’re not comfortable with, it is something that is necessary at this time,” Linton said.

One worker, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, said that it is an arduous task lifting patients up the stairs.

He suggested that ramps be built connecting wards to the Accident and Emergency area of the hospital to make movement easier.

“Ramps will help when the elevator is not operating. We can easily push the people. Right now, mi affi a lift dem up, but mi just a do weh mi can do. Nothing more. Anyweh it reach, it pop,” he said.

“Some people kinda now kick back and chill because by right, dem shoulda have a solution, but we nuh know wah a gwaan,” he said.

The hospital CEO said that she kept staff updated whenever there was feedback from the suppliers.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com