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Milton Cato Memorial Hospital. (iWN file photo)
Milton Cato Memorial Hospital. (iWN file photo)
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The Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) continues to be without a number of essential equipment for the provision of healthcare, Minister of Health, Clayton Burgin said last week.

“Delivery of quality healthcare requires continuous investments in equipment and supplies. We are witnessing the reality of the age of our equipment and also the cost of maintenance given the repairs that are required on an almost daily basis,” he told a ceremony at which Taiwan donated EC$583,000 worth of medical supplies to the hospital.

Burgin said the donation comes at “a very opportune time” in the development of the health service.

“Although we have been replacing several pieces of our equipment, the list of essential equipment continues to grow. This is an undertaking that requires an enormous financial outlay.

“As a consequence, key units and departments continue to be without some very critical equipment in the provision of health care,” he said.

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The minister, however, said there is no government in any corner of this world, which can offer adequate healthcare to its citizens without the support of our friendly government and reputable agencies.

He said the local health sector is benefitting from the generosity of friendly governments and also a range of regional and civic organisations and patriotic Vincentians.

The professionals within the national health sector are “quietly but vigorously making quiet efforts to achieve the goals which they have established,” he said.

Burgin said the nation is experiencing “new and exciting times in the delivery of healthcare”, adding that with the 10th European Development Fund project, designed to further develop and modernise the national health sector, his ministry is poised to commence the infrastructural works at the MCMH, as well as at the Mental Health Centre, along with the construction of staff and doctors’ quarters and polyclinics throughout the country.

Burgin noted that the contracts have been signed and the contractors are just about to take possession of the facilities.

3 replies on “Hospital’s ‘list of essential equipment continues to grow’”

  1. Millions of dollars for a new airport but the hospital don’t have any good equipment and other essentials Vincentians do not get good health care. I have friends who are nurses at the hospital and when they tell me they have to buy and bring their gloves etc IT’S A DARM SHAME.

  2. The list of essential equipment will never stop growing regardless of how much stuff comes in or money gets spent simply because the desire for good health and a long life will always exceed the availability of resources. Who among us would not want to live forever, free of disease, strong of body and sharp of mind?

    Still, the issue is also a relative one: some societies have the means to do a better job of providing medical care than others. We face three problems in addition to the problem of being a have-not country ill equipped to afford an expensive first-class medical system.

    First, the widespread indifference to the medical needs of the poor, a class-based phenomenon rooted in the ability of the high and mighty to afford care in other countries.

    Second, the passivity and lack of sophisticated political consciousness among those who are most in need of good care: the downtrodden will never unite to demand better health treatment. Nor will an incompetent physician ever be successfully sued for malpractice.

    Third, the perennial issue of economies of scale: we are too small in population to provide all the equipment, technological expertise, and specialised training to confront all the potential aflictions we might face. Nor would the provision of resources to deal with rare conditions have much of a political payoff.

    So, even with a new hospital and news clinics, the system will hobble along as usual. The more things change in SVG, the more they stay the same.

  3. I wonder when was the last time Vincentians took the time to read about and compare the country that was suppose to be the poorest and worst off in the Caribbean , Haiti , if they ever find the time to look i don’t think it would surprise many of them when their eyes are opened and found out that svg now finds itself alongside Haiti and fast slipping behind as well in soooo many areas . while the people play politics and better beggars .

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