Although construction is ongoing at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH), Region Three Regional Health Officer (RHO) Ravindranauth Persaud is assuring that measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of hospital staff and patients.
He was at the time responding to a report in Stabroek News’ July 18, 2012 edition, which highlighted the state of the hospital and reported repeated concerns by staffers about the failure to address the situation. The article was based on a visit on Monday to the institution, where electrical cables were hanging over the bed that patients had to be examined on in the Emergency Room (ER) and overhead in the hospital’s old dispensary. It also said that the records department is still not in operation, making it difficult to trace patients’ medical histories and hindering care.
However, on Friday the Government Information Agency (GINA), in a report, quoted Persaud as saying that steps had been taken to correct several conditions highlighted in the newspaper article, which was a follow-up to several articles published by the newspaper on the state of the facility over the last two years.
A recent story about the cry by staffers and patients for better conditions at the institution was carried in Stabroek News’ June 1 edition and an article highlighting that negligible changes were made was published last Wednesday.
The subsequent publication sparked outrage at the hospital and according to sources there the hospital had the problems rectified before summoning the National Communications Network (NCN) and GINA.
Persaud, GINA said, explained that because of the increase in the number of patients being treated, there was need to expand services and some areas. He admitted that during the visit by this newspaper for the June report, in the buildings currently being rehabilitated, including the Emergency Room, “there were some electrical works and there were some fans and air-conditioners that had to be replaced.”
However, Persaud added that the situation has since changed. “Even though there might be tiling work or there might be electrical work to be done, we have ensured that measures are put in place for the safety of the staff and the safety of the patients,” he said.
GINA reported that Persaud said that there are no wires hanging as stated in the July 18 article and he claimed that the picture that Stabroek News published was over a month old.
However, this newspaper stands by the authenticity of the photograph, which was among a number compiled over a two-day period prior to the publication of the article.
Persaud also responded to complaints about the conditions at the dispensary and the records department.
He said the dispensary is functional at another location because there is continuous rehabilitation ongoing at the original dispensary, while some work is being carried out at the records department.
However, he said that the staff continues to function and patients are getting their charts. “As far as I am aware there were no complaints, because I specifically spoke with the persons that are in charge of the records department to let me know if there is any difficulty,” he said, adding that
“All records are accessible and even though are not directly within the area that they are functioning now, they can move and get the records to come back and give to patients.”
He also refuted claims made by staff members that the x-ray department was being serviced by a malfunctioning air conditioner. “We would have had one complaint about a few months ago about one of the air conditioners ceasing to function,” he, however, said, adding that it was immediately repaired and services were not interrupted.
In response to reported complaints that staffers were afraid of being victimized if they highlighted the situation at the hospital, Persaud said he received no complaints of victimization.
In addition to the hanging electrical wires, the newspaper report also highlighted the absence of screens to ensure the privacy of patients, but this was not addressed in the GINA report.
For both news items, Stabroek News had contacted the hospital administration for comment prior to publication. The administration had said that it was not authorized to speak to the media. SN was then referred to Region Three Regional Executive Officer, Donald Gajraj. On neither occasion did he respond to the issues raised.
