Nine months after the state-of-the-art $10 million cancer treatment machine arrived in Barbados, it is yet to be installed and commissioned at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
Sources told the Sunday Sun that the linear accelerator machine, which is used in radiation therapy to treat cancer, was still in storage.
Contractors Hackleton Construction Inc., which was chosen through a tender process by the hospital’s board of management to rectify the area to accommodate the machine, was still carrying out the construction work.
Highest bid
A source said the company, which presented the highest bid during the tender process, was originally slated to complete the job in six to eight weeks.
So, urgent has the situation now become that, according to sources, hospital personnel have been approved to work with the company to complete the job in a new schedule which is the end of August.
The linear accelerator, which replaced the old Cobalt machine, is a powerful device used in radiation therapy to treat cancer. It produces high energy x-rays or electron beams that target tumours with precision, minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
Government is said to have been paying about $7 million a year since 2023 for Barbadian cancer patients to go to Trinidad and Tobago and Colombia for treatment, after the old machine was decommissioned.
A source said the overseas treatment was between $50 000 to $60 000 per person and about ten patients were being sent overseas monthly.
However, the source revealed there was still a long list of cancer patients waiting for the green light from the Medical Aid Scheme to be approved for the life-saving treatment overseas.
A concerned patient told this newspaper that there was a long list including children and people with various cancers waiting for approval.
“I understand a meeting was held a few weeks ago to discuss the cancer machine. They are telling the patients that they do not know when the machine will become available. It is really hard and adding to the stress that cancer patients already have to endure,” she said.
When contacted, Minister of Health Senator Dr The Most Honourable Jerome Walcott confirmed that the machine was still to be installed as he revealed that the matter was being dealt with by the engineering department at the hospital.
While he did not go into details pertaining to what sources are calling an excessive delay in getting the machine up and running, Walcott said all systems were being put in place to accommodate
the installation and functioning of the machine.
“The linear accelerator was ordered and arrived in November last year, and it is in storage and they are waiting for the area where it is supposed to be installed for the remedial work on that to be completed,” he said.
Medical bill
Walcott confirmed that Government was footing the bill for cancer patients to be treated in Colombia, adding that those with insurance coverage were also going to Trinidad and Tobago.
“We have a new oncologist on board and we are hoping to recruit another one shortly,” he said.
The Sunday Sun was unable to reach Neil Clark, the Chief Executive Officer of the QEH, but chairman of the board, Nigel Whitehall, also confirmed that the machine was still to be commissioned.
He explained that the machine arrived on November 25 and a team from Global Medicals where the machine was purchased had already visited the hospital to work with the team on its installation and usage.
Addressing the delay in getting the construction work completed, Whitehall, who publicly stated last year that the current bunker space used for the Cobalt machine could accommodate the linear accelerator with minimal civil works, said it was not a cost overrun situation but a time overrun.
“There were some variations. There were some issues between the contractor and the subcontractors and both were blaming each other for the delay,” he said.
He said initially the machine was supposed to arrive in Barbados in May 2024 and the hospital had received a project plan indicating it would receive its first patient in November. He said this did not materialise due to delays in shipping.
When asked about hospital personnel working with the contractor, Whitehall directed this newspaper to the hospital’s CEO on that matter.
However, he said management was hopeful that the machine would be finally installed by the end of August.
Speaking about the machine, he explained: “It provides better treatment and better patient outcomes. That is the direction that we are going in and we would save money from sending people overseas.” (MB)
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