Elective surgeries could resume at Cornwall Regional Hospital soon
MONTEGO BAY, St James
With its COVID-19 admissions on a downward trend, Cornwall Regional Hospital is set to resume elective operations soon after it was forced to scale back on non-covid-related emergencies in August, due to a spike in cases of the virus.
“Over the last 18 months we have been making COVID-19 our main emphasis but as the [cases at the facility] continue to decrease, one of the things we [must now] focus on is NON-COVID operations such as trying to see if we can do some elective work,” Dr Derek Harvey, the senior medical officer for the facility, said on Tuesday.
The senior health official, who was speaking to the Jamaica Observer West following a $5-million donation to the facility by the J Wray & Nephew Ltd as part of the company’s $45-millon intervention initiative called JWN Cares, said the funds will allow the hospital administrators to focus on the paediatric ward.
“We have to bear in mind that we do have some needs for the children. The children are in need for things on [the] paediatrics [wards], so what we are hoping to do is to utilise this money for NON-COVID purposes,” he explained.
Charmaine Williamsbeckford, the hospital’s chief executive officer, described J Wray & Nephew Ltd’s donation as “timely”.
“This donation is something that we really appreciate. Just yesterday (Monday), while reviewing our budget, we looked at some critical equipment that is needed at this time and so, this donation is timely. We are going to be taking care of some equipment for our pediatric wards… we are very grateful,” she said.
Dr Harvey also noted that with the hospital’s main building being out of operation since 2016, the facility had to convert one of their already limited wards to house COVID-19 positive patients, during the recent third wave of the virus.
He told the Observer West that this ward will now go back to serve its original purpose, as they work assiduously to put a dent in their backlog of elective surgeries---a plan he intends to put in place until the facility experiences another spike in COVID-19 cases.
“Cornwall [Regional] has been in a situation, we are waiting on the refurbishing of the hospital, which would have impacted our delivery of services so I would like to say a hearty thanks to J Wray & Nephew for considering us at this time, especially during the pandemic, and we hope that
this will help us to propel our operations to move forward,” Dr Harvey said.
“The ward which was converted, as the numbers go down, that ward space should become available so we are hoping that we can go back to what we used to do and use it for patients who are waiting for elective surgeries and try to use this gap because it is my belief, if you watch international pattern, surges come and surges go, and once the next surge comes we will have to revert to using the ward to house COVID -19 positive patients, but as the numbers go down, you go for it and that is the plan.”
The decision to curtail elective surgeries in August, he told Observer West, came as 41 of the 50 beds earmarked for COVID-19 patients were already in use, and there was an increase in confirmed and suspected cases of the virus.
Yesterday, there were less that 40 positive COVID-19 patients admitted at the hospital.
“If you have been waiting for [a] hernia operation, for example, you couldn’t come… so we said hold it, it is not life-threatening, so now is the time to see if we can do some of these, so we are in the process of planning that.”
Meanwhile, senior director of public affairs at J Wray & Nephew Ltd, Tanikie Mcclarthy Allen, told the Observer West that the JWN Cares intervention initiative came to life after the company received multiple requests from health facilities across the island for monetary assistance.
With 12 health facilities being targeted through the company’s key brand White Overproof Rum and its sister company the JWN Foundation, she shared that the goal is to lessen the burden that COVID-19 has caused on the public health sector.
“We at J Wray & Nephew, like many other private sector companies, have received several requests for assistance from the hospital network, whether it be our Type A hospitals or clinics. We had several different requests coming in and we thought that we needed to do an intervention that would be wide-reaching and address some of the concerns raised,” she explained.
“We understand the crisis that we are currently facing and we have sought to be a part of the solution by recognising the struggles being faced by the hospital for resources, and [chipping in] to help.”