Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Davidson Ishmael has rejected the opinion that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is a “disaster zone”.
Responding to an assertion of such by Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne, Ishmael said Government was making substantial investments in the hospital plan, equipment and staffing to increase service delivery to Barbadians.
He was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday during debate on a resolution seeking Parliament’s approval for Barbados to borrow $313.6 million from China SINOPHARM International Corporation to expand the QEH.
“The QEH is not a disaster zone and the investment that has been made in the QEH, and in our health care services by extension, since this administration has come in 2018 has been significant. And it demonstrates a government that is putting the health care, the health of its nation, the health of its people, first,” the minister said.
He said the loan would be invested to expand the QEH onto its neighbouring Enmore complex over
42 months “to be able to build out two buildings . . . that will house many services that would
improve health care in our country”.
“We are improving and adding an outpatient clinic, a patient’s ward, a burns unit, an improved and expanded laboratory, an oncology centre and, of course, administrative offices as well. When this facility is built out, we will expand the existing QEH capacity by 40 per cent,” he said.
Ishmael also said the buildings would include a gym, child care facilities and so on “to allow our staff to be better treated and to allow them to be able to better function within the environment, which is a very difficult environment to operate in, 24 hours a day”.
Calling the new investment significant, Ishmael reminded that Parliament previously approved
a $185 million loan from the Saudi Fund For Development, some of which would be spent on the renovation of seven polyclinics and the construction of two new polyclinics.
Another 250 additional posts would also be created at the QEH over the next three years, including nurses, consultants, doctors and orderlies for a cost of $17 million.
The Member of Parliament for St Michael North also recalled that Government “invested significantly in the expansion and the enhancement and the improvement of the existing Accident and Emergency”.
“Yes, we hear the criticisms, you cannot have an institution like a hospital with . . . 3 000 employees and not have some complaints here and there. We are not deaf. We are not blind to the issues that exist within the institution,” he said.
“There are significant areas of improvement that are required, and we are working assiduously on those at the policy level. We’re working on those at the operational level on a daily basis to see how we can weed out those negative instances, those negative circumstances.”
Ishmael added: “Whilst I can agree and appreciate that everybody will not have a satisfactory experience when they go to any institution across Barbados, I must say that the constant and negative attacks, when it comes to our Queen Elizabeth Hospital, I believe in many cases are unmerited and unwarranted.
“And I believe that they are doing an admirable job and I believe that when it comes to service delivery, there [are] significant things that are being put in place to further enhance delivery of service within that institution.”
