Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis says the Government plans to recruit more doctors to reduce the waiting list for elective surgeries. Speaking with reporters at the Eastern Regional Health Authority Sports and Family Day, held at the Mayaro Resource Centre yesterday, Baptiste-Cornelis said a vibrant recruitment drive had been launched to fill vacancies in the health sector. She explained that foreign doctors would have to be sourced, if locals refused to pick up the opportunities afforded by her ministry. "To reduce the waiting time for patients, we have put up ads for more doctors," the minister said.
"We have a vibrant recruitment programme. Our first priority is nationals, but if they are not coming out, we will have to go foreigners."
She also stated that an education drive would be launched so that people would utilise the services of the health centres for minor healthcare, instead of the hospitals. "We need a lot more doctors to see about people," the minister said. "We are also going to embark on a education programme for patients to understand why they should go to a hospital as opposed to a district health centre. "We have too many cases whereby people go to the hospital for care which are accessible at the health centres." Saying there were more than 135 district health centres and four hospitals in T&T, the minister noted that a system would be set up soon, where some of the centres would be open 24-7.
Before this could be accomplished, Baptiste-Cornealis said, more doctors needed to be hired. Asked about the bed shortages at the San Fernando General Hospital, the minister said it was an administrative problem. She said administrative staff was not managing the beds in an efficient and effective manner. Baptiste-Cornealis said the Government had placed as much beds as was physically possible at the institution, but because the bed management crisis, there was often overcrowing on weekends. "There are people who go to the hospital who can be discharged but have not been discharged...I don't know what the reasons are," she said.
"Doctors have their responsibility to discharge and people do recover better at home. The hospital is not a place that you can stay until you are so well enough that you can run the Olympics. We have said that a hospital stay should be between four and five days." She also explained that officials of the San Fernando General Hospital had been cautioned to clean up their act and to have better management of beds at the institution. The minister also noted that a Customer Assessment Committee had been set up to investigate all complaints within the health sector. People with complaints can contact the committee at 627-0010 ext 607/610 or 643. Baptiste-Cornelis assured citizens that all complaints would be investigated and corrected.
