I have been advised that our Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh, has hit the road running. I, therefore, am pleading with him to immediately address, prioritise and provide an immediate solution to the serious anomaly that has been existing at the Sangre Grande Hospital. Top of the list is the non-functional CT scanning machine which has not been operational for months now.
Many people prefer to access the services and facilities of the Sangre Grande Hospital because of the fantastic treatment and customer service every patient receives there. Every single doctor, nurse, attendant, worker, every member of staff there gives of his utmost to satisfy the needs of the patients, hence the reason to have fully functioning equipment in every department at all times. It is therefore expected that everything associated with quality delivery of services would be taxed to the limit.
Alas, this has not been forthcoming. As such, many patients needing critical diagnoses and treatment have had to be turned away because the CT scanning machine is old, has been often breaking down. It is now totally non-functional. No-one can say when it will be repaired.
Word has it that the worn parts that have been removed are recycled and replaced by the people who have been contracted to do the maintenance of said equipment. This, one would agree, is highly untenable and unacceptable if indeed this were the case. The outrageous cost of having a CT scan at a private institution is upwards of $5,000 depending on what is required. How are the elderly like me and others financially-challenged going to get the funds to pay for this?
Please Mr Deyalsingh, could you look into this dire situation as soon as possible and provide us with functioning CT scanning equipment?
Eva David-Swain
Coalmine, Sangre Grande
