Infrastructure at Falmouth Hospital under pressure

WESTERN BUREAU:

Businessman Kenneth Grant, the chairman of the Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny, is having mixed views about the operations at the facility, which has taken on a more prominent role in the western region since a noxious-fumes issue forced the scaling down of activities at the region's premier health facility, the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), in Montego Bay.

"There are some good things happening at the hospital but for its proper running, we need a quota of 18 doctors,” said Grant, who is also the president of the Trelawny Lay Magistrates Association. “At present, we have only 14 doctors but there is a promise to give us the other four shortly."

According to Grant, the additional burden on the Type C hospital due to the situation at CRH has resulted in some amount of refurbishing and upgrading at the Falmouth Hospital. However, the increased use is creating a strain on overall infrastructure, which was not designed for the volume it is now carrying.

"The hospital was built with a capacity of 54 beds. The misfortune at CRH has caused a refurbishing and upgrading, resulting in the hospital now having 140 beds,” said Grant, who was somewhat thankful that when CRH is fully operational again, Falmouth will have the additional space to accommodate patients from Trelawny.

In speaking to the current strain on the Trelawny-based hospital, Grant said the hospital’s sewerage has now emerged as an area of concern as it relates to usage.

“The transfer of patients from CRH has put added stress on the hospital's operations, including the sewerage system,” explained Grant. “Thankfully, J$10 million has been granted to improve the system."

Unhappy

While fully understanding of the extra demand on the hospital, Grant was nonetheless unhappy that the hospital is still accommodating ‘social patients,’ who are not only taking up much-needed space but also benefiting from the hospital's resources, despite not being ill.

"There are 10 of them who are not sick and are occupying much-needed bed space. They cost the hospital an estimated $1,500 per day to keep them there," said the obviously displeased Grant.

The question as to which body should take responsibility for the ‘social patients’ remains unclear. In fact, the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) is divorcing itself from all responsibility.

"These social patients are the responsibility of the municipality's (Trelawny Municipal Corporation) inspector of poor. The hospital's responsibility is to make people well, not to take on the patient's post-rehabilitative condition,” said Errol Greene, the chairman of the WRHA.

Just over a year ago, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Chris Tufton promised that his ministry would be working closely with the local government ministry on an infirmary expansion programme, which would help to create space at those facilities to accommodate social patients.

Efforts by The Gleaner to contact the municipal’s inspector of the poor and chairman of the poor relief committee by telephone proved futile, as their respective telephones rang without being answered.