Soldiers working at the St Ann's Bay Hospital in St Ann, on Monday, Labour Day. - Photo by Carl Gilchrist

While expressing appreciation for the Labour Day facelift given to St Ann's Bay Hospital, chief executive officer at the institution, Eon Jarrett, has said a lot more needs to be done.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Monday, Jarrett said the hospital has an "extremely long list" of infrastructural inadequacies.

"We need an extension of our operating theatre. Right now, our theatre (waiting) list is extremely long.

"Even for radiology and X-rays and so on, we are giving out appointments for ultrasound and other such studies for as far away as July, so we want to double our capacity where that is concerned," Jarrett said.

He said the waiting list for elective surgery is also very long and, whereas emergency surgeries are being conducted the same day, patients sometimes have to wait several hours.

Space constraint

He said the hospital's outpatient capacity has outgrown its space. The hospital now facilitates about 250 persons daily.

"We would love to probably increase, by about 50 per cent, the capacity we have as far as outpatients are concerned. The waiting area is a problem.

"Since the elimination of user fees, a lot of people have been coming in to use our service and our waiting area is overflowing and we have to erect some temporary shelters on the outside, so we would love to see some improvement there."

Jarrett explained that some wards are currently running above 100 per cent occupancy, whereas, ideally, the preferred rate would be around 85 per cent.

"Those are some areas we would love to see some attention. I know it's going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take some time but, in due course, I hope we can take them one by one," he added.