Bustamante Hospital to be operated on
Published: Monday | March 16, 2009
This woman sergeant of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) shows civilians the proper way to use the pedestrian crossing during a road safety promotion at the Bustamante Hospital for Children. The exercise was part of a child abuse prevention campaign of which the JCF is a part. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
The two oldest operating theatres at the Bustamante Hospital for Children have been closed for three weeks in order to facilitate rehabilitation work.
According to a release from the South East Regional Health Authority, the theatres were built prior to the 1920s. The work being undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Environment will modernise the operating theatres in keeping with new trends and technology.
The scope of work includes general refurbishment, upgrading of the electrical circuitry and the installation of additional outlets for equipment and medical gases. The rehabilitation work is expected to be completed by March 31.
"The upgrade will go a long way in improving our capacity to utilise all four theatres for major surgery," Beverley Needham, CEO of Bustamante Hospital, said.
Needham said the facility would be able to improve the standard of health-care delivery in keeping with established guidelines as well as better facilitate visiting medical missions for cardiac and scoliosis surgery. The hospital hosts four international medical missions each year.
The CEO said the hospital continues to work towards realising its vision of becoming a world-class provider of paediatric health-care services. The upgrading of Bustamante's physical plant and equipping the operating theatre suite with state-of-the-art medical equipment is part of the overall strategy of the Ministry of Health and Environment in achieving this vision.
Rehabilitation work
Needham stated that the rehabilitation work would be completed in time to facilitate the annual visit of a team of medical volunteers - Caribbean Heart Menders Association - from Florida, April 14-23.
During the visit, the team will perform corrective open-heart surgery on an estimated 20 children cost-free.
As part of the ongoing programme to develop the capability of the local medical team to perform complex open-heart surgeries, the visiting team will work alongside Jamaican doctors and nurses to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and skills.
Last March, nine children received surgeries during the mission.
