Sick hospitals

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA) Idi Stuart says the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) and Port of Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) are two buildings that should be part of a UNESCO World Heritage site rather than house patients.

“It is a lame duck. These buildings are literally falling apart. The burns unit in San Fernando General has collapsed and they are using tarpaulin to hold up the ceiling. All they are doing as one floor collapses is move around people.

“The PoSGH building, if it was any other hospital, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Agency) would have closed it down, but because it’s a hospital they are leaving it open, and I think it’s kind of ironic,” Stuart told Newsday during a telephone interview yesterday as the TTRNA celebrated National Nurses Day in Tobago.

He said after meeting with nurses about two weeks ago, a number of issues were raised, including the structure of the buildings which housed patients and nurses aides.

Stuart’s concern was that even though Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh had promised in 2017 that the Central Block at the PoSGH would be torn down and replaced with a facility to house 500, nothing yet had been done.

The United National Congress (UNC) had also promised a refurbished wing. Deyalsingh had said the initiative came after nothing was done from 2009 to 2015.

Past studies by the Pan American Health Organisation showed that there were serious doubts as to the structural integrity of the building.

“It can’t be that the building that is supposed to house people cannot stand up to the smallest earthquake right now. The NWRHA (North West Regional Health Authority) held a meeting with the staff to let them know about the plans for the wing of the hospital, which is good. But we have heard about these plans for a number of years and they always seem to get pushed back due to political expediencies, other projects come up, there are hospitals that had not been on the cards before like the Couva Children’s Hospital which came and took precedence over these two hospitals. We want to keep the focus on these two hospitals that need to be rebuilt with great urgency,” Stuart said.

He said what was supposed to be the cleanest and safest, it is the most dilapidated. He said workers had to triple bag their food items before they went on that ward because it was overrun with cockroaches and rats.

“It is infested. It is a terrible place to work far less to spend nights there as a patient. The ground floor is too weak to support the underfloor. They said there was a soft under thrust. Next month hospital would be 160 years old. It needs to be closed down,” Stuart said.

He also criticised operations at St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital.

Stuart said there was no ventilation going through the wards.

“The windows have been sealed shut and their is no air conditioning. Nurses have been coming down with a lot of respiratory diseases over the years. If the RHAs have not been reporting these cases then we ask that OSHA take action against the authorities,” he said..

When contacted yesterday, Deyalsingh asked what the issue since he had publicly announced the construction of the wing. He said invitations for contracts have gone out for the construction.

“We are doing what the UNC did not do for five years. I took the note to Cabinet, the Prime Minister (Dr Keith Rowley) himself spoke about the need to rebuild PoS (GH) and we are now in the stage of going out for proposals. We are moving staff more than anyone has ever moved from PoSGH,” Deyalsingh said.

Asked about the rodent and roach infestation, Deyalsingh distanced himself from the issue.

“I have no idea about that, call the CEO (chief executive officer). If that is the case there is a way to deal with these things. Let him talk to the CEO (Sheldon Cyrus) of the hospital who is in charge of that,” Deyalsingh said.

Several calls made to Cyrus went unanswered.

However, in a response via email later yesterday afternoon, the NWRHA said that preventative management of pests and rodents was an ongoing process at the PoSGH, including all at all facilities under the purview of the NWRHA.

“There is a robust scheduled and continuous monitoring of the situation to ensure that all health and safety requirements are being met. Included in this schedule is the periodic engagement of an external pest control contractor to augment internal practices,” the NWRHA said.

The NWRHA was also asking neighbouring stakeholders to implement similar preventative measures.

In another response from the SWRHA, the authority said there were no reports or evidence of rodents in packs or any infestation at the SWRHA.

The SWRHA said there was also a Health, Safety and Environment Department that maintained vigilance to ensure safety standards were maintained.

The release said it must also be understood that the hospital was an open space and was located in the heart of the city, and therefore it was possible that on the odd occasion, pests may enter the premises. Once located, they were disposed off and pest control assessed the area and changed baiting traps accordingly.