Senior Minister Dr William Duguid insisted in Parliament that the government’s decision to expand the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) at the Enmore Clinic site rather than the old general hospital at Jemmotts Lane was based on safety and accreditation concerns, citing the risks of storm surge and lessons from Jamaica’s Hurricane Melissa damage.
Last month, Minister of Health Senator Jerome Walcott signed a $390 million loan agreement paving the way for a major expansion of the island’s main medical institution, which will include, among other developments, a bridge across Martindale’s Road to connect the QEH to the old Enmore Clinic, where the expansion is scheduled to take place.
Duguid told the House of Assembly that certain requirements must be met for a hospital to gain accreditation and rejected suggestions that the Jemmotts Lane site would have been a better choice, referring to the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica.
He said: “I’m going to go back to Jamaica and Black River, where we saw a hospital was significantly damaged by a storm surge because of its location. And the reason why Jemmotts Lane itself was never chosen is because of the risk of storm surge, the proximity to the shoreline, like what happened in Jamaica. You see what happened? They had a major problem at the hospital at Black River because of storm surge. We don’t want to find ourselves in that situation.”
“Now, people could argue that you could put things on the second floor like you do at a hotel. With hotels and conference centres, part of the conditions is that accommodation must be above a certain level. But hospitals aren’t like that. There are certain pieces of equipment in hospitals that may give out radiation, and certain things that are required for shielding around a particular piece of equipment that are better recommended, because of their weight, to be on the ground floor and cannot be on a higher floor. There are certain reasons why you do not want to have a hospital in a place that would get storm surge.”
Experts had dismissed the idea of the Harrison Point facility being recognised as a hospital due to its infrastructure and the need for patients to be transported between separate buildings, he told lawmakers.
The senior minister responsible for infrastructure, speaking during debate on the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) Bill, described Barbados’ move to become a full member of CAF as a “tremendous opportunity”, saying it would allow the island access to funds at a better concessional rate, available when necessary.
“So not only the government, not only the companies, but individuals can benefit from access to those funds,” said Duguid. “This is a tremendous opportunity. You know, sometimes they used to have something here on the radio, Opportunity Knocks [Opportunity Calls]. Opportunity is knocking at Barbados, and we have to grasp that opportunity with both hands. That is what this is, and let me be clear, this is not us going to borrow money right away. This is not what this is. Many business people understand what’s called a line of credit. This is an opportunity should you need it.”
(JB)
The post Duguid defends choice of QEH expansion site over old hospital grounds appeared first on Barbados Today.
