Special investigative report by Real News.
One week after Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC) is offering world-class care, hospital employees are saying the health-care system is on the verge of collapse.
Inside sources tell REAL News that everything needed to deliver timely treatment and effective care is either in short supply or out of stock altogether.
Of greatest concern, says one nurse, is that only emergency surgeries can be undertaken at this time, because there are not enough supplies – including anesthesia – to stock the Operation Rooms (OR).
Accordingly, she says, persons whose elective surgeries were delayed for the past two-three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic are still unable to have their operations done.
The sources allege that “basic equipment to perform special surgeries is not available,” which has forced staff to improvise, even with pieces brought over from the old Holberton Hospital.
In terms of customer service, many residents have accused the Medical Centre of being callous when it comes to wait times. But the staff say they, too, are perturbed by this shortcoming.
With embarrassment, they acknowledge that, “most times, admissions are untimely due to lack of beds” and this sometimes results in persons having to be sent back home.
While this is happening, both staff and the public are aware that the Ministry of Health appropriated the Nugent Avenue technical-school building over a year ago to create a satellite hospital.
But although the ribbon-cutting and naming ceremony took place since 2021, the facility has never been commissioned, and reports say its refurbishment remains incomplete.
Another challenge – that is affecting the community clinics, as well – is the reported severe shortage of staple vaccines. Sources tell REAL News that the Ministry of Health recently “borrowed” some of these drugs from St. Kitts, with the understanding that they would be replaced.
However, Antigua and Barbuda has not received any vaccines from its distributors, to date, the sources say. Reportedly, this is because the suppliers are owed by the Government and are refusing to ship more drugs until they have been paid.
About two weeks ago, news broke that the local Pharmacy Council was unable to issue licenses to the companies importing prescription drugs and other pharmaceuticals.
Reports said that a request for a mere $2,000 for printing supplies had not been honoured, and that members of the Council were also owed for their services since 2019.
“It’s bad, bad, bad. Shameful. The hospital needs help – from the Emergency Room to the OR to the ICU,” a nurse says. “Doctors and nurses are getting frustrated and are leaving. Right now, another 10 nurses are planning to resign,” another one claims.
Ironically, PM Browne told the public, last week, that he and his wife, MP Maria Bird Browne, had just undergone their annual medical checks in the United States.
One source is not surprised by their decision, since he alleges that the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre is not up to the standard required by the US-based Joint Commission, which undertakes international accreditation.
In its defence, however, an official tells REAL News that SLBMC is not “immune to the challenges being faced by other hospitals – or by other organisations, generally, for that matter.”
“Some of the challenges we’re experiencing have more to do with delays in manufacturing, shipping, and shortages on the market and less to do with ability to purchase,” the hospital official asserts.
Countering this, the inside sources say they are aware that the Browne Administration withdrew funds from the Medical Benefits Scheme – said to be $37 million – shortly after assuming office. And they believe this massive withdrawal is partly responsible for the state in which the public healthcare system now finds itself.
When questioned on this matter recently in Parliament, PM Browne, the Minister of Finance, claimed the monies will not be replaced, since these trust funds were “a grant” to the Government.
… In other system-wide woes, yesterday, August 22, REAL News reported that the lack of pipe-borne water at the Pathology Department had caused the suspension of autopsies – even as some families allegedly have been waiting for weeks on end to bury their dead.
On Monday, too, the Ministry of Health was forced to close the Glanvilles Polyclinic “due to unforeseen circumstances” – which persons claim, again, was the lack of running water.
The insiders report that the All Saints Clinic was also closed that day on account of a leaking roof, while the Villa facility allegedly had a shut-down one day last week.
Meanwhile, the Rural East Branch of the United Progressive Party is currently engaged in a supplies-drive for the Clare Hall Clinic. The list of items solicited includes things as basic as scissors, folders, toilet paper, and garbage bags.
Despite the seriousness of the public-health situation, the sources say that Minister of Health Sir Molwyn Joseph has been remarkably silent and is absent from duty.
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During the 2014 election, there was a daily deluge of bad news emanating from Mount St Johns hospital, similar to what is being echoed now, the only difference is that the Marketing Manager, one called Salma Crump who daily tried to expose the UPP with salacious headlines and press releases, only now that things are being kept under wraps and being exposed by the front line workers, but what happens in secret must come to light and the poor stewardship of the government is stark bare for all to see.
This incompetent government with no ideas and wanting people to vote dem back into power as though no one else has the ability to manage the affairs of government.
GET RID A DEM. This economic poor house, has no money to pay workers, suppliers, not even for daily operations. WHAT AN ECONOMIC POOR HOUSE.
GET RID A DEM, GET RID A DEM, GET RID A DEM, GET RID A DEM
As a senior nurse with over 20 years in the service I agree with you!
So sad to hear is this costing human lives ?
Meanwhile the PM travels abroad to get his physical and routine check ups. If it’s not good enough for Gaston then it’s not good enough for the country.
So with the medication and supply shortage what will happen to those folks who do need them? We all can catch a plane and go? Do you know what happens to a heart patient or a diabetes patient who don’t get their meds?No? Hmmmmm ok!!
*cant
yeah Damani said they have “insiders” at APUA too. Translation: SABOTEURS
We really in ELECTION SEASON lol lol lol
Glad you realize that. All sorts of makeup stories. They are throwing any and everything against the wall and hoping some will stick.
@ From The Sideline
Makeup stories?
Do you live here? Obviously you are not on the ground to experience the service or non-service and lack of supplies at the institution.
You live where you live so continue to be fooled by this Economic Powerhouse that cannot pay workers nor suppliers, not even a simple $2,000 bill.
Antigua is in a sorry sorry state. Poor, poor people.
These are facts!
Wake up!
@ Have Mercy
Where is the daily expose’ from the Marketing Manager now? She is no longer sabotaging?
This is the true situation at the hospital as told. Guess you either don’t live here or never used the services there
I don’t care who is in power in Antigua,in fact I wasn’t even born there or lived there,but this is never good news for anyone who lives there, and certainly not for the few of us who still invest there. This health system needs fix. Don’t tell me about no election year, fix the damn health system. I have friends and business partners who lives there for crying out loud.
Yes of course our health care system needs much improvement. We need a younger , more motivated and energetic minister to take this area of the country forward. The bed sores is still my main concern . I had a friend that left the hospital worst than Andre Simon. She had to be taken overseas by her love ones. She left the hospital with the bed sore rotten down to her tail bone. Worst yet dried feces were mingled in it and around it. This lady had to undergo surgery to remove the rotten tissues and feces. The surgery that she needed had to be delayed. I think that this contributed to her death. The nurses were sitting chatting and laughing out loud while people are suffering. I am in no way trying to distract from the article but I think that some of our nurses and doctors just don’t care about people.
About the water situation. The teachers and cleaners of several of our government schools returned this week in preparation for opening of school . Due to the water problems they had to return home. So we are paying people to just go and sign in and go back home.
Another health concern of my is the amount of Vagrants around the public market. Since Kennedy’s close they buy the bottles and go outside the market. They are increasing in numbers on a daily basis due to the food packages, clothing and even on weekend a group of young barbers cut their hairs. All this is great and I applaud the love shown. However, we need to set up a facility somewhere outside of St.John’s and provide them the care they need. With proper treatment some of them can once more because useful citizens.
*Frankly Speaking*
Bed sore potion of your post hit me hard,for I think my mom would still be alive, were it not for her MSJMC visits exasperating bed sores, that I were healing.i wish,,I could file suit.
Bed sore, Chair sore, Desk sore, all sore will continue to happen cause the place hot. (Antigua people complain bout everything).
Try taking your loved ones to any facility and not getting a bedsore. The only way to prevent bed sores in this heat, is to suspend the patient in outerspace. Btw whatever became of the decompression chamber…? Sores heal faster with hyperbaric oxygen treatment
My recipe to prevent fragile skin from breaking down & giving rise to sores: hourly turns, zinc ointment, cornstarch powder & bacitracin cream, cotton undies, plastic free diapers, changing diapers as soon as they get wet, twice daily baths using a cashmere wash cloth, good nutrition and finally, a constant supply of fresh air. Its not cheap.
Thank you. They acting like bedsores just now coming into existence!
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