Gareth Manning and Mark Titus, Sunday Gleaner Writers

Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe, president of the Medical Association of Jamaica, expects new administration to refurbish several hospitals as promised in election manifesto.- file

Despite billions of dollars spent to rehabilitate several hospitals in the 1990s, currently, many of these facilities operate under the burden of poor infrastructure and non-functioning or missing medical equipment. Even facilities built or renovated a year or more ago lie idle due to a lack of equipment.

Sections of the Falmouth Hospital, which was upgraded for the Cricket World Cup staged earlier this year, are also in a poor state. An accident and emergency (A&E) unit, which was built for the opening of the cricket tournament in March this year, is yet to be opened and equipped.

The $52 million refurbishing of a building to house a new accident and emergency unit at the Spanish Town Hospital is still incomplete more than a year later, and the initial cost has increased beyond 15 per cent.

The May Pen Hospital, constructed 10 years ago as part of the $16-billion Health Service Rationalisation Project under the direction of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), is now under severe infrastructural strain.

The new ER wing at the Falmouth General Hospital completed earlier this year, remains unopened and without equipment. - photo by Mark Titus

According to the hospitals' Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Winston Dawes, the hospital was built on swampy land, which is the cause of the problems besetting it. Sections of the building are cracked, while poor drainage systems on the compound lead to flooding of the operating theatre when it rains heavily. The male medical ward also has been out of use since the passage of Hurricane Dean, and the administrative section of the hospital has been abandoned since Hurricane Ivan in 2004 because the roof over that section has still not been repaired. Dawes says it will take about $100 million to rehabilitate the hospital.

Some sections of the St. Ann's Bay hospital, which was also rehabilitated under the UDC managed project in the late 1990s is also currently in a poor state, particularly in the nursing quarters, The Sunday Gleaner has been informed.

Similarly, sections of the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay need improvement. On a recent visit by The Sunday Gleaner to the institution sand bags were seen placed strategically over some areas to stop water running into the hospital, while in other sections plyboard was being used to cover areas where windows once were. Sixty-one million dollars has donated by the National Health Fund to have the windows and elevators fixed, but that is yet to be done; so too, is the planned upgrading of the hospital's air-conditioning system, and refurbishing of the kitchen and laundry.

"Enough maintenance has not been undertaken over the years, and as a result we find that the conditions of buildings and the general structure tend to deteriorate," comments Noel Julius , chairman of the welfare committee of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ). He also says the maintenance of hospitals is not being efficiently done because the service is now being provided by contractors.

President of the Medical Association of Jamaica, Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe, says the island's two major hospitals, the Cornwall Regional and Kingston Public are the two worst maintained. But she did not specify what were some of the major problems in those hospitals.

"The problem is across the health sector, but the problem is probably greater in our two largest institutions ... and this is, of course, because they serve a much larger population and they are referral centres," she states.

Only last year the Victoria Jubilee Hospital came under scrutiny for its poorly maintained equipment and non-functioning facilities. This came to light after a 41-year-old woman lost her baby following a Caesarian section operation which put off three times due to a malfunctioning autoclave machine.

"We await the implementation of the government's plan as expressed in the Jamaica Labour Party's manifesto to refurbish and upgrade several of our hospitals," says Wright-Pascoe.

Up to late last year all hospitals in the southern region of the island were in need of millions of dollars worth of equipment. The Kingston Public and Spanish Town Hospitals lead with a need of at least US$2 million worth of equipment each. Among the needed equipment were operating tables, x-ray machines and CT scan machines. It is not clear how much of those equipment have been acquired since last year, but sources in some hospitals tell The Sunday Gleaner not much has changed.

The poor maintenance of hospitals; weak management systems and medical staff shortage are among the main issues highlighted in a October 2007 draft plan of the health sector prepared by the Planning Institute of Jamaica. The draft is part of the agency's 2030 National Development Plan.