Staffers repeat warnings over hazardous conditions at West Demerara Hospital

Staff members of the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) are calling on the facility’s administration to address its critical state, saying that they are fed up working under potentially dangerous conditions.

Little has been done to address the situation at the hospital, which was highlighted by Stabroek News last month, when staffers said they were afraid for their patients’ and their own safety.

On a visit on Monday to the institution, there was no visible change from the last visit made by this newspaper. It was observed that electrical cables are still hanging over the bed that patients have to be examined on in the Emergency Room (ER) and overhead in the hospital’s old dispensary, while the records department is still not in operation, making it difficult to trace patients’ medical histories.

Loose wires over the nurses’ heads in the Emergency Room of the West Demerara Regional Hospital

Senior Medical Personnel at the hospital continue to say that they are not prepared to work under those conditions, since they deem it as hazardous. They also stated that despite numerous complaints made to administrator Bharrat Persaud, there has been nothing done to address the issues.

When contacted for comment, hospital authorities said that they are not authorised to speak and asked that questions be directed to the Regional Executive Officer (REO) Donald Gajraj. When contacted, Gajraj told Stabroek News that he will have to consult with the hospital’s administration before he speaks on the situation. He added that as far as he is aware, everything at the institution is functioning. He undertook to subsequently make contact with this newspaper, but he did not do so and efforts to contact him again proved futile.

A nurse, who asked not to be named because of the fear of victimisation, said that “since the issue was raised in the newspaper they have just come and clip a few wires and look after the old air conditioning unit in the x-ray room and now the machine works when it wants.” During Stabroek News previous visit, the X-ray department had to be shut down due to a malfunctioning air conditioning unit.

The nurse said, “They are not making any real progress in this hospital and then when people speak out they are being disciplined or sidelined.”

The irate woman said that she has been working at the institution for over five years and since she started working at the hospital, the facility has continued to deteriorate. She added that management failed to adequately advocate for the improvement of the facility since several staffers at the institution made recommendations for the rehabilitation of critical areas.

As a result of the deteriorating conditions at WDRH, patients, some of whom travel from as far as Vriesland, West Bank Demerara, have been resorting to travel to the Leonora Cottage Hospital. “The nurses washroom has a hole in the roof and when it rains we have to use umbrellas and also the patient washroom, by the canteen, has no hand washing facilities and we at the hospital are promoting safe hygiene practices,” the nurse added.

A senior medical practitioner at the hospital said that the records room is in a “mess.” He added that they are forced at times to run tests on patients to determine their medical histories, which they currently cannot access.

He added that due to the stalled construction of the dispensary facility, the staff members of that department are forced to work under cramped conditions in a roughly 10ft x 10ft room. “When you are working you want to be comfortable and many of these [staffers] at this hospital are not comfortable and that makes a lot of them neglect their responsibilities and patients are the ones in the end suffering more,” he said.

The condition of the nurses’ room he likened to that of “caged animals,” while noting that there is no proper ventilation of the room, which has no air conditioning unit and is very hot.

“We work in very poor conditions in this hospital and the relevant authorities need to intervene and ensure that the doctors and nurses are comfortable so we can execute our duties in a timelier and less agitated manner,” he added.

This newspaper had earlier reported that in addition to the hanging electrical wires, there were no screens to ensure the privacy of patients in the ER. The situation has been unchanged since December of last year.

The screens were removed to facilitate rehabilitative works but those works have since ceased and to date the ER still remains without the screens and officials there are mum as to when they will be reinstalled.