As the date for the general election draws closer, the Ministry of Health says it remains committed to improving the services being offered to the public and is moving ahead with plans to construct a new facility at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital which will provide support and ancillary services for staff and visitors.
Touring the Colposcopy Centre around mid-morning yesterday, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan admitted that the entire building would not be completed in time to be formally opened prior to the general election of September 7.
However, he is hopeful Block A will be ready by the end of the month.
Accompanied by chief medical officer Dr Colin Furlonge and external patient programme administrator Beesham Seetaram, Khan was treated to a brief tour of the unfinished premises.
Although none of the members of the touring party were presented with safety equipment prior to entering the site, it was also observed that workers too seemed to be without safety harnesses, hard hats and flak jackets. Some were seen climbing up and down scaffolding and performing other tasks without the proper safety equipment.
It was only after that was pointed out to on-site officers that Khan and other officials were presented with hard hats and flak jackets midway into the tour.
The contractor has been named as Adams Contracting, while the National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd (Nipdec) was listed as the project manager.
Poking his head into the bathrooms, ultrasound rooms, storerooms, medical records room, examination rooms, seminar and teaching rooms, pharmacy quarters, colposcopy room, breast-feeding room and the lamaze room, Khan commented on the fixtures being used and enquired of the time that was needed to complete the job.
Addressing reporters outside as the work continued apace, Khan explained that idea for an additional facility was conceptualised four years ago.
Revealing that there was a need to overhaul T&T’s neonatal intensive care systems, the minister promised the new centre had been designed “with that in mind, from the ground up.” Uncertain as to the final cost of the new building, Khan said he believed it was around $70 million.
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Laundry workers hot and sweaty
Meanwhile, laundry workers at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital took advantage of the minister’s presence yesterday to highlight the deplorable conditions under which they operated daily.
Declining to provide their names, some of the workers complained of the unsanitary conditions they were forced to endure in order to get their job done.
Among their concerns were the cramped physical space, the heat, noise and generally unsafe atmosphere.
Although Khan did not meet with the workers, he was pressed to answer questions from reporters as to what could be done to address the matter.
Admitting that their complaints had merit, Khan promised his ministry was working on a new system.
Referring to the private contractor who provides laundry services at that particular hospital, Khan revealed that tenders would be issued soon to secure another firm for the provision of services at that location.
Unable to say when that would be done, Khan said: “I believe every single hospital should have its own laundry system and run it with its own staff.”