A man waits in the outpatient area of the Kingston Public Hospital in this 2008 file picture. - File

A reported shortage of staff and equipment is hampering operations at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and could be putting the lives of some patients at risk.

However, chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), Lyttleton Shirley, is downplaying the report, even as he accepts that the increased number of patients since the introduction of free health care two years ago, is testing the capabilities of the facility.

"If you have more people accessing the facility than was planned for, there will be delays," Shirley told The Gleaner.

More access, more people

If you plan for 10 (people), 11 will crop up and, if you plan for 11, then 12 will crop up because more and more people are becoming comfortable with the service and accessing it," Shirley added as he responded to a Gleaner probe which found that malfunctioning machines and the shortage of professionals were crippling the KPH in areas such as radiotherapy, dialysis and neurology.

In fact, the hospital recently confirmed that it had to suspend CT scans because of a problem at the facility.

One medical doctor told The Gleaner that the hospital had run out of the reagent, Optiray, which is used in the CT scans. Despite checks with the facility, The Gleaner was unable to determine when it would get new supplies.

CT scans allow doctors to inspect internal organs without having to operate or perform unpleasant examinations.

"I am not aware of that but I will check and get back to you," Shirley said.

Medical doctor Jephthah Ford recently expressed concern about the time it had been taking the hospital to present the result of a biopsy it conducted on one of his patients.

"The woman went to the hospital with what I suspect to be breast cancer and the biopsy was done on August 31, but the hospital has not yet had the results and the woman's life is at risk," Ford claimed.

He noted that the result of the biopsy was needed for doctors to determine the extent of surgery to be performed and claimed the result would be ready in days if done in a private facility.

The quicker, the better

"The quicker you have the operation to get rid of the cancer, the better the chances for this woman," said Ford.

"What you are doing is condemning this woman to death. She is in tremendous pain and yet the hospital can't give you the results of a test that should take no more than three days," Ford added.

However, a KPH official yesterday said while the result would be ready in approximately three weeks in a private facility, it would take, at best, six weeks for the public facility.

"All the biopsy tests are done at the national public health lab, which takes samples from all public health facilities, so it would be difficult to get it done in less time with a limited pathology staff," he said.

According to the KPH official, who asked not to be named, the limited staff was as a result of the constant leaving of experienced professionals and the failure of the authorities to find replacements. This, in turn, has caused a constant backlog in the number of lab tests to be conducted.

"The samples go through a process and it takes time," Shirley said as he again pointed to the increasing number of people accessing the services of the KPH.

However, that is little comfort for the son of the woman who is awaiting the result of her biopsy.

"All my mother doing is crying because of the pain and she don't think she can live for another two or three weeks while she wait on the result," the young man said in anguish.