First field hospital to go to hurricane-damaged Black River Hospital

The Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth, which was hit hard by Hurricane Melissa, is to be the first site of a field hospital that will be established to help with health cases in the parish.

“It will be a fully equipped hospital, so the residents will have access to health services,” Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton told a press conference this morning, noting that a location on the grounds of the hospital has already been identified.

Work on the field hospital is expected to begin tomorrow, and it is expected to be up and running soon thereafter.

Another field hospital, with the help of the Government of Spain, is being targeted for the Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny, which is expected to come on stream in the coming days, the minister said.

He also said talks are being held with India and Canada regarding additional field hospitals, which would be established at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, the Noel Holmes Hospital, and the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Tufton said all five hospitals were badly damaged by the hurricane.

He said teams are still assessing the damage to those hospitals with a view to getting them back up and running, and that he expects a report, which will include costings.

He said the priority is to get A&E departments back up in the fight to save lives.

He noted that staff have been going above and beyond to offer care, and that facilities are seeing growing numbers of persons seeking treatment as road access continues to be restored to communities.

Tufton pointed out that the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester and the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital in St Ann have been accepting overflow patients, noting that St Ann’s Bay has seen a 60 per cent increase in patient numbers.

He added that communication channels have been established at hurricane-affected hospitals and that water is being supplied and fuel provided for generators.

Meanwhile, the health minister said work is ongoing to get health centres back up so that they can handle non-emergency cases as well as provide critical services, such as those needed by persons with non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

He said an assessment of health centres is being carried out.

In the meantime, Tufton said the ministry is to lead a mission comprising 200 persons to western Jamaica tomorrow to help with clean-up and other activities at hospitals battered by the hurricane.

- Lester Hinds

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