PAHO/WHO helping GPHC address staff shortages
Due to the human resources limitations at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) have offered to help make the facility more efficient, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Retired Brigadier George Lewis has disclosed.
Lewis made the announcement at a press conference last Friday.
PAHO, he said, has stepped in and is conducting an evaluation to identify deficiencies in order to address the human resources deficiencies at the hospital.
“PAHO/WHO, with a view of assisting us in identifying the additional deficiencies, is assisting us, in terms of building our human resource capacity and we hope that at the end of this process we can have a much stronger, better equipped Paediatric Oncology Department,” Lewis said.
The lack of human resources at the hospital was highlighted during the press conference, which was held by the hospital to present the findings of the probe into the deaths of three children who died at the GPH in January after being incorrectly administered chemotherapy drugs.
“As you are aware, no organization has its full complement of human material. The Georgetown Hospital is no different, (Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Karen Gordon-Campbell) said there were issues of staff shortages and we also know of the staff shortages and early in this year we advertised in the newspapers in order to address the staff efficiency. Unfortunately, this incident occurred before we could have fully addressed the staffing,” the CEO explained.
During the press conference, it was disclosed that lack of staffing contributed to the deaths of the children.
Touching on the limited human resources in the Paediatric Oncology Department, Lewis said they have hired two paediatricians to boost the work force.
However, the deaths occurred before they were able to hire additional staff, he pointed out.
Gordon-Campbell had explained that from her probe, limited staff in the Paediatric Oncology Department contributed to the poor delivery of health care.
“The scenario that we were able to put together was lack of staffing and the few persons that were available stretching themselves between clinic, accident and emergency, ward rounds and administration of the chemotherapy, led to the administration of the chemotherapy being done without the senior person being present at all times,” she said.