Health sector gets shot in the arm

THE DONATION of medical equipment and supplies to the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), valued at $5 million, by the Good Samaritan Inn on Tuesday, will go a far way in improving healthcare delivery, Regional Director of the SERHA, Maureen Golding, disclosed after the handover ceremony.

The donated items include vital signs monitors, a defibrillator, blood pressure cuffs, bassinets, humidifiers and temperature monitors, in addition to medication. Golding singled out the bassinets as vital, given that this is the ‘crop season’, or high delivery time, at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, the country’s national maternity centre. Most of the donated items are slated for that institution. The annual crop season runs from August to January.

“It’s high delivery time, outside of the norm when you have lots of expectant mothers coming in for their deliveries,” she told The Gleaner. The babies are placed in the bassinets right next to their mothers, where they can be observed and easily cared for, as needs dictate. They are considered essential to the operations of the premature nursery.

“The patients will definitely benefit from the donation in a big way, and we are grateful also for the medication trolleys because those will help us to secure our medication and other small medical sundries,” added Golding. “There is a defibrillator, which is well-needed because it is a piece of critical life-saving equipment, as well as warmers and other essential stuff. So we are really grateful.”

The SERHA regional director said that with the advent of COVID-19, the health sector is operating in extraordinary times and as such, the donation of furniture, medical equipment or supplies cannot be too much, given that SERHA has responsibility over the health of half the Jamaican population. It has nine hospitals and 92 health centres under its jurisdiction.

LARGEST HEALTH AUTHORITY

SERHA is the largest of the island’s four health authorities and is known as the referral region. It also has responsibility for the major air and seaport in Kingston.

“Our public health teams does what is called public health policing in ensuring that our borders are safe in terms of healthcare,” the SERHA director added. “We are really grateful and I am sure that the nurses will welcome these, especially the medication trolleys, which will give them more flexibility in carrying out their duties. So this is really a big help for our patients as well as our staff.

“We in the health sector are operating in extraordinary times, because COVID-19 has changed the conversation, changed the game, and we need support. Welcome this partnership with the Good Samaritan Inn, which has been going for over 10 years. They have always been good to us, and there is so much more in the pipeline in terms of things to come.”