This is an open letter to the Minister of Health.I would like to ask the goodly minister if he thinks waiting eight hours in the accident and emergency department to be admitted to ward after having a stroke is acceptable to him. My grandmother, on Saturday 16, was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital from St James accident and emergency department around 6 pm with the diagnosis of a stroke, yet she was only admitted to ward at around 2.30 on Sunday morning.
Mr Minister, this is downright scandalous and wholly unacceptable. This additional eight-hour wait cannot impact favourably on any recovery for her.Mr Minister, those who are in charge of running the PoS Hospital have failed completely, leaving loved ones of patients in hopeless despair at the complete lack of proper and timely care and treatment to patients.
Also the female washroom located in the waiting room of the emergency and accident department has no sink at all to wash your hands. It looks like it was taken out a very long time ago and no one has bothered to put one back in, so when you are finished using the toilet–where also there is no toilet paper–you can't even wash your hands: no sink, no soap.Therefore females have to go into the male washroom to use the sink–in which of course there is no soap.
Do I have to spell out the threat of germs being spread in the hospital because of the utter show of undisguised incompetence and could-not-be-bothered-or-care-less mentality to get things done?Why must we, the citizens, put up with this? It is just hopeless despair all around.
Racquel Putt
St James