The Port Kaituma Hospital Complex will soon be the beneficiary of $150 million worth of remedial works to provide improved workspace for staff and better healthcare delivery for patients.
According to a Department of Public Information (DPI) release, the $150 million contract should be signed shortly by the Ministry of Public Health and these corrective works should commence by the first week in September.
Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence recently led a team to conduct an assessment of the complex to have a look at the areas were the works will take place. She noted that based on the scope of works to be done, the staff should be able to inhabit the new complex as early as November.
Among the upgrades slated are access points for accident & emergency patients and outpatients as well as rehabilitation of other areas to accommodate audiology, radiology and other specialised areas.
Based on the new facility’s capacity, there is the likelihood of the new Port Kaituma Hospital becoming the new regional hospital in Barima-Waini, Region One. The ministry’s procurement manager, Seewchan, explained that the goal is to ensure that all the necessary services are now available in the Port Kaituma district.
“When the hospital was initially designed, it didn’t cater to some specialised areas, particularly for radiology … so, we are trying to have that completed with the specific pieces of material which are required to be used in the radiology department,” Seewchan was quoted as saying.
The procurement manager added that it is the ministry’s intention for the works to be done promptly as the primary goal is to relocate all existing and new services to a more spacious and conducive facility as soon as possible Based on the new facility’s capacity, there is the likelihood of the new Port Kaituma Hospital becoming the new regional hospital in the Barima-Waini.
Seewchan also pointed out that, “…having visited the Port Kaituma old hospital you would see the challenges not only our health workers are being faced with but the patients also. There is the lack of ventilation, electricity to do basic testing and so on, but I think with this new hospital being in place, having that huge complex, having the mortuary, generator, admin office, a section for infectious diseases and a housing quarter for the doctors and nurses, I think that will facilitate better service.”
In 2014, the previous administration contracted R. Bassoo and Sons, and Kalitech as the supervisory consultancy firm overseeing the project. The initial project was valued at $700 million, however, the Public Health Ministry has reformulated a plan for the new complex which includes provisions for all the necessary services, some of which were not catered for during the initial stages, the release added.
