St Vincent Minister of Health Daniel Cummings has provided a stark assessment of the dilapidated state of medical facilities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, describing many of them as poorly maintained, “rundown,” or even in “shatter.”
The Milton Cato Memorial Hospital is described as a facility that many people are “really afraid” to visit due to overwhelming negativity surrounding its condition. Cummings identify several critical issues affecting the facility including:
Poor Maintenance and Location: Cummings asserts that the hospital has lacked a consistent maintenance program and that its current location is not ideal for a medical facility.
Sewage Problems: There have been instances of sewage backing up in front of hospital wards, a problem the Minister noted was not new and had occurred previously.
Ineffective Repairs: The Minister argues that “no matter how much patching” is done at Milton Cato, the facility will never be suitable or long-lasting, necessitating the move to a new hospital at Arnos Vale.
The state of smaller health facilities throughout the country is described as inconsistent, ranging “from fancy to shatter”.
Cummings said many clinics have holes in their roofs, causing leaks so severe that the facilities cannot be used at times.
Even newer facilities have significant gaps; for example, the Camden Park clinic lacks a reliable water supply and water storage tanks, and had no place for staff to dry laundry, he stated.
The physical condition of the Ministry of Health’s own offices and storage areas was cited as being in total disarray.
Cummings described his first day in the office as having to “hold my breath” because the place was “a dump”. Staff were observed using buckets to catch water leaking from the ceiling directly outside his office. Additionally, a washroom in the office was unusable due to fumes from a waste pipe that was not properly connected to the outlet.
He said the central storage for medical supplies is described as “totally rundown,” with offices and exits blocked by boxes. “Furthermore, the government pays rent for various storage spaces in town, one of which contains “pure garbage”.
Cummings attributed these conditions to a failure of the previous administration to prioritize maintenance.
The Minister stated that the maintenance agency, BRAGSA, is described as lacking the necessary resources and using a flawed methodology that involves sending workers from long distances to perform minor repairs.
To address this, the Minister proposed engaging local construction workers within communities to handle smaller maintenance tasks for clinics and other government buildings.