Operating theatres at QEH back up and running soon, says Cummins

Highlighting the government’s commitment to rehabilitating and expanding the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to improve health care, Minister of Health and Wellness, Senator Lisa Cummins hinted that all of its operating theatres may soon be back up and running.

During the wrap-up of debate on the Appropriation Bill in the Upper Chamber on Wednesday evening, she admitted that while there had been several issues with the theatres, light was at the end of the tunnel.

“Three of nine (operating theatres) have been working for the last little while, but the other ones that needed to be done have now been rehabilitated,” Cummins revealed, adding that the island’s main medical facility was currently dealing with concerns relating to air conditioning and ventilation. 

However, Cummins disclosed that the QEH was struggling to provide additional beds, with the situation worsened by the impact of last month’s fire at the facility..

“We can’t change and expand the footprint of the Accident and Emergency room without having additional capacity for additional beds for tertiary care on the wards. That is a part of our process. 

“Right now, as many of the members of the public know, the number of beds is even lower than it was before, and that is simply because we saw that there was a fire and we saw that there was a roof that partially collapsed on two wards in particular. So two wards in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital have been out of commission to allow for those things to be rehabilitated. Mercifully, we’re coming close to the end of that rehabilitation, we hope,” Cummins said.

Acknowledging that there were staffing shortages, particularly regarding nurses, Cummins said after meeting with the Barbados Community College, her ministry was seeking to bring in more nursing educators on board and to work with the tertiary institution to develop specialisations in nursing.

The Leader of Government Business in the Senate also issued a call to the diaspora to come home to work in the healthcare sector.

“We need Barbadians to be able to come home and to work in our healthcare sector and to have the benefit, even if there are professionals who have built capacity and who have the ability to work along with the University of the West Indies, who have the ability to come and teach, who have the ability to consult and who have the ability to advise at the level of the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” Cummins stated.