THE UNIVERSITY Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), with significant help from the private sector, on Saturday opened a $225 million cardiothoracic, neurosurgical and emergency operating and surgical Intensive Care Unit.
The expansion represents the largest single capital investment at the UHWI since establishment 40 years ago. The new facility features a surgical intensive care unit consisting of eight rooms which are visible from a centrally located nurse's station. It also has two operating rooms, equipped to conduct cardiothoracic, neuro and emergency surgical procedures. The new unit is expected to be opened to the public in September.
The Intensive Care Unit is the most advanced facility in Jamaica and the Caribbean that is equipped to carry out such specialised operating procedures and care. The venture was made possible by substantial donations from various private sector entities which provided $115 million in funding. The Tony Thwaites Wing provided $35 million and the UHWI $75 million towards equipping the new complex.
OPEN HEART SURGERY
Colin Steele, chairman of the UHWI Board of Management, in underlining the significance of building the new facility, explained that "each year, there are about 250 referrals to this hospital for open heart surgery, but the cardiothoracic unit can only handle 50 per cent of that number." He pointed out that "the waiting list for heart surgery today is over 100 persons, (while) the number of persons on the waiting list for neuro-surgery exceeds 50." Mr. Steele noted that every patient who did an open heart surgery, needed an intensive care bed. With the addition of eight more beds at the new facility, the capacity will increase by 100 per cent, bringing the total number of beds to 16.
CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERIES
"The expansion will now allow us to perform at least 200 cardiothoracic surgeries per year, significantly reducing the number on the waiting list with a view of eliminating the list in a relatively short order and reducing the necessity for some persons to seek treatment abroad," he said.
The UHWI chairman said the additional operating theatres will also be used to meet the demand for other medical cases such as orthopaedic and general surgeries. This, he said, will lead to a reduction in the number of days patients spend on the hospital's wards, improve efficiency and through put and increase revenues for the institution.
Professor E. Nigel Harris, Vice-Chancellor-Designate of the UWI, in his keynote address, commended the partnership between the private sector and the University Hospital. "This is another aspect of the university-community partnership that one would like to see well beyond this present time," he said.
"I assert that such partnership must cross any of our usual boundaries that have historically divided us," added the Guyanese-born Professor.
