Dear Editor,
Behind the nice façade of the new New Amsterdam Hospital there are the daily struggles of those who depend on its services. I visited this institution some time last week, spent about three hours in it, and got a severe flu the next day which lasted for several days. To put it mildly, the hospital is not a sanitized area. The washrooms are dirty, and I have heard accounts of patients who are skeptical and reluctant to use the washroom and bathroom facilities. What are the persons who are paid to clean this facility doing? What are the large quantities of cleaning agents being used for? And I believe it was the germs that were dancing around in the atmosphere that got me sick.
I have heard that many persons agree that the old hospital at Charles Place was cleaner and offered a better service to the general public. I sat and watched confused persons leave the hospital saying that the X-Ray department did not have water to wash the X- rays. When I enquired what kind of water they were talking about I found out that the machine requires ‘pipe- water,’ but I also found out that the hospital does not store water for this purpose.
The bed in the male ward that was to be used had bloodstains on it. The bed had no covering or sheet. Sheets, pillow-cases and bedding had to be brought in. This was news to me when millions upon millions are being dished out to the health sector. The hospital did not have a bottle of drinking water to offer my sick cousin who was admitted last week there.
Wholesome drinking water is a necessity especially in institutions as these, but sadly there is none at this hospital, or not the kind that members of the public find up to standard.
Yes, the building is all nicely designed and painted. There are plenty of wards. There is a large waiting area. There are adequate personnel and nurses. Those are all changes that took place after the hospital moved from its former location. But the attitude of the people there is the same. We all know the importance of human resources. One can have all the physical resources available to them, however, it is the human resource that activates the physical resource and makes it work in efficient and beneficial ways.
The New Amsterdam Hospital would not last as long as the former building.
I have heard persons say that much better services are dished out to persons by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Hospitals are supposed to be the cleanest of places there are in our communities but sadly this is not the reality. The reality is filth, neglect, and poor delivery of healthcare to Berbicians. This must stop immediately.
It was this hospital that discharged an East Canje patient Mr Rupert Williams even after the man was virtually paralyzed. Yet he was discharged and told to attend the hospital’s weekly clinic. I suppose he was to put on wings and fly there each week. It was after this that the St Vincent de Paul Society of the Roman Catholic Church of the Ascension in New Amsterdam decided to intervene and assist the man to be admitted to the GT hospital where he received some treatment. It was beyond me then and it is still beyond me today as to how the doctors there could not diagnose that gentleman or find out what his mystery illness was.
Yours faithfully,
Leon J Suseran
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the Medical Director of the New Amsterdam Hospital for any comments he may wish to make.
