WESTERN BUREAU:
With public hospitals struggling to find bed space to address the growing number of positive COVID-19 cases, the operator of one of the foremost private hospitals in rural Jamaica is expressing a willingness to assist the Government with bed space.
Yesterday, the owners of the Hargreaves Memorial Hospital in Mandeville, Manchester, said that if called upon, they would be happy to answer the call, joining the Andrews Memorial Hospital in Kingston, the first private hospital to make such a commitment.
“Yes, we are willing to help,” said Sylvia Lyn, co-owner of the Hargreaves hospital, in noting her willingness to help to handle what is steadily becoming a crisis. “We have 36 rooms that can hold two beds each because they are big enough. It’s a national crisis, we have to help.”
For its part, the management of the Andrews Hospital signed a memorandum of understanding with the government last year to serve as an overflow ward for the Kingston Public Hospital for non-COVID-19 medical patients, which would free up space for KPH to handle more COVID-19 cases.
Interestingly, the St Joseph’s Hospital, another reputable private facility, has redeployed 21-bed spaces exclusively for COVID-19 patients, and with the sharp climb in the infection rate which resulted in a record number of new cases between March 4 and 8, the hospital is seemingly poised to do more if asked.
In explaining Hargreaves’ ready-to-assist attitude, Lyn said in a time of crisis, partnerships need to be forged in the best interest of the nation.
“As a country, we are all in this thing together and where partnerships can be forged to manage the spread and help those in need of critical bed space, we are willing to help,” she added.
Lyn, who has been operating the 96-year old Hargreaves hospital with her husband Calvin since 2006, also revealed that they had offered their facility at the start of the pandemic to house ordinary medical patients, but their proposal was not acknowledged.
“We did ask them if they wanted us to keep some of the non-COVID patients at a reasonable price, but they didn’t reply to us,” said Lyn.
According to him, Hargreaves hospital is willing to sit at the table with the Government to forge a deal at any time, because they are anxious to offer whatever assistance they can.
“It’s partnerships like these that the Ministry of Health should have considered long ago, but they are considering themselves too big to do that,” said Lyn, who is clearly not pleased that the initial offer was not accepted.
In Montego Bay, which has numerous private hospitals, it was unclear as to whether any of them would commit to assist, as while some promised to have internal discussions and get back to The Gleaner, they never did.
Dr Keith Wedderburn, the managing director at the Montego Bay Hospital and Urology Centre, said he would be more than happy to assist but his facility, which has limited bed spaces, basically has no vacancy.
“We only have nine beds in total, one for maternity, so we are left with eight which are currently occupied,” explained Wedderburn.
Meanwhile, David Wan, president of the Jamaica Employers Federation, said he is hoping that amicable arrangements can be reached with the private hospitals that are yet to commit. According to him, he would not like to see the Government being forced to demand the facilities, which is what has occurred in some other countries.