Davis: The current state of the hospital is bleak and dismal
Hospital renovations not projected to be completed until 2023
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said on Tuesday that he intends to launch an aggressive fight against the COVID-19 virus within the first 100 days of his administration and address the state of the healthcare system.
Davis made the comment after he toured several parts of Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), along with newly appointed Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville, Hospital Administrator Mary Walker, a delegation from the Public Hospitals Authority and other health professionals.
He described his observations at the facility as “bleak”, with the healthcare system teetering over capacity due to being inundated with COVID-19 cases.
The prime minister said the healthcare system is a high priority.
“At the moment, the system is such that it has been overwhelmed by the COVID cases and that has to be addressed first to see exactly what we will do… It is accepted by all that the state of the hospital is dismal,” Davis said.
When asked about his administration’s plans for the first 100 days of office, Davis said: “The first thing you are going to see is an aggressive fight against the virus and that’s what we are doing now.
“The first step is what we are doing today. In the second step, we will address the economic issues that face our people and we are now aggressively looking at the state of our finances to determine what we can do with what we find and we will let the Bahamian public know exactly what we find.
“We are in a health crisis and, of course, no doubt, an economic crisis and until such time that we get the health crisis under control and have a bright path toward a proper and effective fight against the virus, we will not be able to get our economic situation under control.”
While space and capacity remain among the major concern of healthcare workers with ongoing expansion and repairs of the facility continuing, it is unlikely that they will be completed by 2023.
Davis said he was advised that the timeline of completion was also impacted by the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 as workers are only able to proceed with work at night and intermittently in order to accommodate the hospital providing care.
“If it continues this way, the work could continue well into 2023, and we were saying that’s not an acceptable time,” Davis said.
He added that he will discuss the matter further to see how they can speed up that process.
The prime minister said he has met with healthcare expert Dr Dahl-Regis, officials in the Ministry of Health, the nurses union and doctors union, along with nurses and doctors on the frontline, to get their perspective on the fight against the virus.
“As I’ve promised, I’m going to listen to the experts on this issue and from what they’ve said, we will be addressing their concern immediately,“ he said.
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