NAJ paints a scary picture of CRH situation
THE EMISSION of noxious fumes plaguing the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay, St James, could be far more serious than initially believed as more than 100 nurses have been adversely affected, according to Carmen Johnson, president of the Nurses’ Association of Jamaica (NAJ).
In a media interview yesterday, Johnson stated that since the noxious fumes issue came to the fore last year, in excess of 160 nurses have reported to the hospital’s staff clinic with complaints ranging from rashes to headaches to weakness in the joints, among other things.
“We have some of the young nurses who are diagnosed with chronic hypertension who were never hypertensive, chronic heart conditions, who never had any issues,” said Johnson. “Some who were browner in skin are now darker. Some are suffering from loss of memory, and some people are too weak to function.”
RELATIVES AFFECTED
Johnson also claimed that the relatives of some of the affected nurses have also suffered illeffects as a result of interacting with them.
“The respiratory conditions are out of whack. Persons are just spitting up blood. When they cough, it never seems to go away, and when they go home, they recognise that some family members are displaying the same symptoms they are having,” reported Johnson.
Like the nurses and doctors who recently withdrew their services for a day to highlight the unsafe conditions under which they are working at Cornwall Regional, Johnson said that patients are also showing illeffects as a result of their exposure to the toxic fumes.
The NAJ’s revelation comes at a time when there are charges and counter-charges between health minister Dr Christopher Tufton and his opposition counterpart, Dr Dayton Campbell, with regard to reported recommendations from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) that the hospital be closed until the problem was rectified and from the hospital’s former chief medical officer that the facility be evacuated. Such actions were said to be in the best interest of the patients and staff. Tufton said that after consideration, the Government opted not to implement the recommendations as they were not feasible.
WHILE JUNIOR doctors were back on the job at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday, the situation at the 400-bed Type A hospital remains in a state of flux as patients are being removed from the main building and persons in need of nonemergency attention are being urged to seek treatment elsewhere.
On Tuesday, 12 interns and six resident doctors from the hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department withdrew their services amid fresh concerns about the toxic fumes that have been plaguing the hospital and negatively impacting the health of staff and patients.
“When I checked this morning, the doctors were back at work,” Dr Delroy Fray, the clinical coordinator at the hospital, told The Gleaner Wednesday evening.
RELOCATING PATIENTS
“But, while we do have our full complement of doctors, as I said [Tuesday], we will be moving all the patients from the main building to other locations on the compound and to the Falmouth Hospital.”
With their colleagues falling ill in significant numbers due to their exposure to the toxic fumes, which caused nurses to withdraw their services earlier this year, the junior doctors took a decision to stay away from work on Tuesday to highlight their plight. This has sparked a call from some stakeholders for the hospital to be closed until the problem is fixed.
“The hospital is a place where sick people go to get better, not a place where the healthy should go and get sick,” a staff member told The Gleaner yesterday.
“The Government has not been decisive enough, and that is why we are now back to where we were when the problem first surfaced.”
Earlier this week, the Western Regional Health Authority released a statement urging persons with medical issues to seek healthcare at facilities such as the Savanna-la-Mar General Hospital in Westmoreland, the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover, and the Falmouth General Hospital in Trelawny.
On Wednesday, Fray explained that the main building at the hospital, from which more than 100 persons have been removed since the start of the week, was currently housing only a few patients.
“Because of the situation, we are urging patients with nonemergency matters to seek medical attention at other facilities ... . At present, we are only dealing with urgent and emergency cases,” said Fray.
“Insofar as the main building is concerned, at this time, we only have surgical inpatients, obstetrics inpatients, and gynaecological inpatients in that building.”
“The hospital is a place where sick people go to get better, not a place where the healthy should go and get sick.”