What Imbert said:
Health: “Our public health facilities, with deteriorating infrastructure, are not patient-friendly and with acute shortages of medical personnel the patient experience leaves much to be desired. We will review the existing hospital strategy through a scientific evidence-driven Hospital Construction and Refurbishment Plan and, where necessary, we will refurbish and modernise our existing ageing plant and will construct new heath facilities where they are required.”
Patient:
A 29-year-old pregnant mother from Point Fortin called on the Government to bring the Point Fortin Hospital up to standards
The mother of two, Ashley, said the hospital was “unacceptable” in these modern times. She rated the hospital, its facilties and services, four out of ten. She said at any given time, the hospital would have about 40 pregnant women while the Sangre Grande Hospital, where she delivered her two children, had about 150.
She said Point Fortin has two available doctors while Sangre Grande had nine.
“Now that I am in Point Fortin, I get to the clinic around 6.30 am and start triage and then I wait until 9 am for the first doctor to show up and we sit and wait for a really long time,” she said.
Ashley’s platelet count also drops from time to time so she does regular blood tests. She described herself as a “complicated patient.”
“They do not have basic, required stuff. The cesspit stinks up the clinic. The staff tries its best though with limited resources. The place is hot, there’s no air-condition. It’s a hospital in the 80’s.”
In May 2015, former health minister Dr Fuad Khan turned the sod to begin construction of the $1.2 billion Point Fortin Hospital in Egypt Village.
Ashley hopes to see the following:
*More doctors;
*More efficient service;
*Modern facilities; and
*Better lighting and ventilation in maternity ward.
Nursing Association:
President of the T&T Registered Nurses Association, Gwendolyn Loobie-Snaggs, said the year gone by in health was “most challenging.”
She said there were too many incidents of “ill-health issues” which were unfavourable for the public, healthcare professionals and moreso nurses.
“I would like to see for this upcoming Budget a little more towards health because it is crucial at this time when we are experiencing new diseases and viruses. If, as the minister indicated, that diabetes is the second highest cause of death, then it means that we have to have a new approach in terms of how we deal with chronic diseases,” she said.
The population is ageing, life expectancy is longer, and as a result, she said, healthcare should be better planned.
Loobie-Snaggs said hospitals and other health institutions should be looked after properly in terms of their management, changes and structures so that healthcare could be delivered efficiently and effectively.
She said the Finance Minister should take a “stringent approach” when allocating to health. However, she said, while she understood the country’s economic challenges, “we cannot afford to be cutting, cutting, cutting in crucial areas.”
She added that unhealthy people cannot lead to a healthy nation.
The association’s expectations are as follows:
*Equality in service;
*Reduction in waiting time;
*Up-to-date technology to meet the needs of the population;
*Allocation of ten per cent more.
DOMA president:
Giving an overview of his expectations, Downtown Owners & Merchants Association (DOMA) president Gregory Aboud said T&T finds itself in a very difficult position and the association was concerned that this difficult condition should not become more difficult by failure to take in the early term the necessary action to stave off a possible economic calamity.
He said the fact was that the Government had grown accustomed to “heavy, excessive spending” and the population also, so the need at this time was for the Government to curtail spending money which it could not raise.
“It’s also for the country to increase its productive output and for us to learn to live with less than we have lived with in the last ten or 15 years,” he said.
Aboud said the association was hopeful that whatever strategies the Minister of Finance employed would not send a negative message to those who were waiting on the sidelines, trying to decide if to pursue investments or not.
He said, “We clearly need a combination of sensible expenditure by the Government and strategies to encourage productive output, especially the improvement in productivity.”
Ministry of health $6.09b
1. Address the shortage of medical personnel immediately.
2. To establish universal health coverage for the national community.
3. To expedite surgeries and expand and improve the CDAP
4. To review and audit the Children’s Life Fund