By Jeff Trotman
Concern has been raised over two faulty ECG machines at the state-of-the-art Mackenzie Hospi-tal.
Chairman of the Region Ten Health and Environ-ment Committee, Maurice Butters, in his report at the April meeting of the RDC, said one of the two ECG machines, which the Ministry of Health provided at the Mackenzie Hospital, has been deemed out of order even after repairs were done to it.
He said the other machine has an electrical problem and even when the machine is unplugged from the point it has a lingering light. “In addition to that,” Butters reported, “the technician obtained three different readings from a patient by the same machine. It means, therefore, there was no consistency in whatever test was done, which ruled that machine also questionable and I would like through the committee to request that a letter to the board or the management of the hospital be done urgently for a meeting to be called and for us to iron out these concerns.”
During the meeting, another councillor, Stanley Collins said he too had a serious problem with the hospital. “I went there on the 18 September 2013 to see the doctor and he said that I should get some tests. I went to the lab and they said the two ECG machines were not working. They gave me a number to call. I call every day. The machine was not working for five weeks.”
Collins said the pain he had been feeling on the left side of his body subsided and he did not bother to go back to the hospital until March 25 this year. “The doctor recommended the same tests,” Collins said, noting that again the machine was not working.
The RDC councillor, who is an old age pensioner, said that he decided to seek medical attention in Georgetown and it cost him $31,000 to do the test. He said a lot of pensioners cannot afford that and it makes no sense boasting of having a state-of-the-art hospital when the equipment was defective.
Collins subsequently told Stabroek News that the private practitioner told him that his ECG machine costs more than the sum cost of the two at the Mackenzie Hospital. Collins also expressed concern that a worker at the Mackenzie Hospital has an ECG machine, which is always in working condition within the institution, and that medical practitioners there prescribe its use for which a substantial fee is charged.
