Hospitals on life support

ANOTHER year, another hospital. It seems governments have become adept at ribbon-cutting.

But maintaining a consistent quality of care at state facilities? Not so much.

Do not get us wrong. Every new hospital is welcome. No doubt the 150-bed Arima general hospital will make a big difference.

But it cannot be denied the healthcare system is patchy. Spanking new wings sit next to decaying structures older than time itself. Forward-thinking teaching facilities adjoin backward-looking institutions with poor reputations for staffing, service and facilities.

The bizarre case of an ultrasound machine that seems to have walked itself out of the San Fernando general hospital in 2013 is illustrative. Four people were charged, at least, but after years of legal proceedings, a magistrate threw out the case in March on a technicality.

The machine was never found. No one appears to have been held accountable.

It is not just a matter of safeguarding equipment. It is also a matter of maintenance, proper calibration, and being up to date with the latest advances in hardware and software. Many facilities still use CD-ROMs to store reports: how many modern-day computers can read them?

Pharmacies in these facilities are frequently short of medicines that doctors in the same facilities prescribe.

There are long wait times, despite efforts to fix this.

In addition to the wait, burdensome itself for anyone who is ill or infirm, is the lack of communication skills to be endured when you are finally attended to by staff. Customer service is not our forte.

These problems are symptoms of even more profound issues.

Little has been done to address the convoluted bureaucracy that governs public hospitals. We have not only a health ministry with dedicated public servants, but also regional health authorities with contract workers. Often, when the time comes to hold someone responsible, it is a case of passing the buck.

The merry-go-round continues through the way the state system employs doctors full-time, while allowing the same doctors to moonlight privately. The result: inherent conflicts of interest, a battery of lawsuits, endless procurement problems.

Another area requiring attention, emphasised by the covid19 crisis, is the relationship between private laboratories and the state system.

It is easy to forget, amid all of this, that there are bright spots. Perhaps the new hospital will become one. Its location will certainly help decentralise, reducing pressure on the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in particular.

Coming after key projects, such as the long-delayed oncology centre, have been scrapped for economic reasons, this is encouraging.

The next ribbon-cutting on the horizon could be the new wing of the Port of Spain general hospital.

We should ensure that when the time comes for that ceremony, some strong medicine would have been administered to the system.