Mandeville hospital sees patient surge

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton has announced a comprehensive recovery plan to address the spike in patient numbers at the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

"The figures that I saw [on January 22] ... were up to 78 per cent above capacity in terms of inpatient care and 50 per cent in terms of outpatient care," he noted during a recent tour of the facility. Tufton explained that the hospital has approximately 250 beds for inpatient care; however, it was accommodating up to 360 admitted patients. He pointed out that the high patient load is unlikely to decrease for several weeks as Hurricane Melissa's passage and the damage to neighbouring hospitals has caused major disruptions in the public-health sector. He said to alleviate the pressure, the Government is implementing several immediate interventions.

"There's a facility that is being built to house an additional 30 to 40 or so patients. Then there is the coordination between the staff at Black River Hospital and here (Mandeville), which has seen some of the staff from Black River being deployed here to assist and to bolster the response of the teams that are treating the additional patients here," he outlined.

He also noted that additional nurses and doctors would be added to the cadre at the hospital to help alleviate the challenges currently being faced. He pointed out that the surge in patients at facilities such as Mandeville Regional is expected to continue until about March, when renovation and rebuilding works at the Black River and Falmouth hospitals are scheduled for completion.

"So, we do expect a tapering off ... [around] February into March because we will have more beds, more doctors and nurses, more primary healthcare facilities being serviced, and Mandeville Regional, hopefully, will return to normality. But it is going to be a challenge over the next number of weeks, and I think it is important to say that to the public so that we can all play the part that we have to play," the Minister stated.

Tufton appealed to citizens to follow their prescribed medication regime, protect themselves against unnecessary complications, and, where possible, visit their health centres first.

"Citizens must understand that if they come to the hospital and it's not absolutely necessary, they're going to have to wait, and they [may have to] wait a long time because you have to deal with the life-saving procedures first," he stated.