PAHO conducting assessment of MCMH

This country’s main hospital, the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, may be one of four in the region to receive assistance from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), following a three day assessment by the regional body which began on Monday.{{more}}

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the sixth of seven countries to be assessed by a team of medical officials, engineers and disaster preparedness experts locally and from around the region.

According to PAHO representative Joyce Thomas, the assessment dubbed ‘strengthening communities through safer health facilities in the Caribbean’ (Safer Hospital Project for short) will be conducted in a structural, non structural and functional phases. The results of the assessment will be followed by recommendations being forwarded to the Ministry of Health in the form of an emergency plan.

Thomas said that the assessment would not be looking at the quality of care at the hospitals, and that the project would not disrupt the day to day operations of the institutions.

Hospital officials present at Monday’s media briefing indicated that the project is expected to be beneficial, by pointing out areas where there are deficiencies in each phase.

The assessment is also expected to bring this country up to the same level as other hospitals in the region.

Thomas indicated that this country, along with Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Montserrat, Antigua and Grenada were selected for assessment since these countries all have one main hospital.

Following the assessment and recommendations, PAHO will determine which hospitals will receive assistance. (JJ)