Doctors and nurses are forced to work under deplorable and unsanitary conditions at the nation’s hospitals and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh blames the last administration for the dilemna.
Deyalsingh, who spoke to the T&T Guardian briefly yesterday, said he was aware of the conditions that existed at all the nation’s hospitals.
“The last administration is to blame for that because they preferred to spend over $1 billion on the Children’s Hospital, Couva, rather than to upgrade and repair the existing hospitals,” Deyalsingh said.
He said the roofs of both the Port-of-Spain and San Fernando General Hospitals were leaking.
“I know of the horrible and deplorable conditions that exist,” he added.
On Sunday, during a visit at the San Fernando hospital, patients were seen lying on recliner chairs and stretchers throughout the wards because of a bed shortage at the facility.
One patient, who was admitted to Ward Six, was placed on a stretcher for several hours before she was transferred to another ward, on a bed.
While another patient, also on Ward Six, was placed on a leatherette recliner chair indefinitely after surgery to remove two of her toes. The surgery was done in the doctor’s examination room, staff said.
Patients and visitors to the hospital on Sunday expressed disgust on seeing the present conditions.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian, one patient, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that she was shocked at the state of the hospital.
A visitor to the hospital said he was disappointed to see what the patients had to undergo.
Former minister of health, Dr Fuad Khan, in response to Deyalsingh said the Children’s Hospital and the new wing at the Women’s Hospital in Mt Hope could be opened as soon as possible.
He said with respect to the procurement and distribution of pharmaceuticals, he believed Deyalsingh had reversed all systems that he (Khan) had put in place to make the system operate more smooth.