NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville yesterday flagged the increasing incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases with mainly middle-aged and elderly Bahamians needing extensive hospital care.
He noted that like other countries around the world, The Bahamas is currently facing a post-COVID-19 health crisis.
“This increased demand for in-hospital care is putting excess strain on my Ministry’s resources and the delivery of both secondary and tertiary health care services is proving to be very challenging. Many of these unstable patients require recurrent hospitalization because of noncompliance with medication, diet, and sometimes a lack of primary healthcare follow-up. In many cases resulting in readmission sometimes weeks after being discharged,” Darville.
He continued: “This is becoming a vicious cycle because these chronic patients continue to occupy the bulk of precious hospital beds making it extremely difficult to admit surgical, medical, obstetric, and gynecological patients who in most cases have been on waiting lists for years to have lifesaving, non-urgent surgical procedures completed.
“I am pleased to report that we are working diligently to correct this problem at the primary healthcare level with aggressive patient education, community nursing, and strong wellness programs to meet the patient at the community level. Along with the use of digital monitoring devices that would detect uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension in the community, we are aiming to have more patients stabilized at the primary healthcare level preventing unnecessary hospitalization.”
Darville revealed that a new state-of-the-art hospital for Grand Bahama is on target for groundbreaking “in short order”, with funding for its construction coming from the World Bank.
During his mid-year budget contribution yesterday, Darville said: “I am pleased to report that by way of funding from the World Bank, the construction of the new state-of-the-art hospital for Grand Bahama is on target for the groundbreaking. Our architects, health planners, and engineers have completed the first phase of this design-build hospital, and requests for proposals will go out this month for construction for the first phase of this new state-of-the-art hospital promised years ago for the residents of Grand Bahama.”
Darville also noted that for too long the Rand Memorial Hospital has wrestled with morgue facilities that have failed to keep pace with the growth and usage of that institution.
“I am pleased to report that a $1.6 million dollar contract was awarded and the work is on schedule,” he said.
“These works will expand the spaces for autopsies, expand storage for human remains, establish a secure and private drop off and collection bay, pathologists’ offices, create a dedicated viewing and visitor vestibule, and establish a secure corridor link between the main Rand facility and Morgue, eliminating the need for the remains of love ones to be transported outside of the controlled environment of the hospital. I am also pleased to report that a recent contract was awarded to complete outstanding work at the Radiology Department at the Rand to replace the mammography machine and other diagnostic equipment that has been out of service for much of the pandemic.”
Darville also noted that the feasibility study for the new specialty hospital and trauma centre for New Providence was completed late last year and the Ministry of Finance is in discussion with an international bank interested in funding this new hospital.
Speaking to the manpower challenges, Darville noted that many of the 450 plus healthcare professionals approved in the last budget cycle have been trained and deployed throughout the public healthcare system filling many of the gaps that existed.
“I am proud to report that additional training should be completed in the second half of this budget cycle,” he said.
“With this increase in human resources, I am excited about where we are heading in the delivery of primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare services across the country. Once again we are aggressively recruiting nurses from Ghana, Cuba, and the Philippines to address current shortages in specialty nurses and some allied healthcare professionals. But we must be mindful that the shortage of healthcare workers is a global phenomenon and while we are recruiting from other countries, developed countries like Canada, the United States, and Europe are recruiting from our local pool of healthcare professionals,” Darville said.
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