Second Smart Hospital opens in SVG

The second Smart hospital and clinic to be opened in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is located in the North Leeward community of Chateaubelair.

An official opening ceremony was held on Tuesday, with many excited persons from the town and other surrounding areas coming out to witness.

The Smart hospital project was executed by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), with funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

“This Chateaubelair Smart Hospital and Clinic is a compelling answer to anyone who would say

that it is all doom and gloom when it comes to health in our country,” Luke Browne, the minister of health said during Tuesday’s ceremony.

The health minister added that the opening of the facility is “a complete response to any notion that we are not making progress with healthcare in St Vincent and the Grenadines and the good thing about it is that it is not a stand alone beacon of the work that the government is doing for the health of our nation”.

Browne said that there are many other health facilities that will open soon and this demonstrates the government’s commitment to put infrastructure in place to achieve healthcare for all.

He said the Levi Latham Health Complex in Marriaqua and staff quarters on Union Island are scheduled to be opened in the coming weeks as well as the Buccament Polyclinic, which is set for April 15.

The health minister also said a Smart facility is one that is safe, green and energy efficient.

“The building now boasts a much upgraded and modern makeover. Apart from its new resilient design, the building will be able to function in the aftermath of a disaster having protection from hurricane shutters, given its large water storage capacity…from 600 gallons to about 9000 gallons so we can actually function at full hospital capacity for more than three days and its own electricity standby generator and a 27 kilowatt photovoltaic system which is expected to generate just over 50 per cent of the power requirements for the building and eventually reduce that electricity cost,” health planner, David Latchman said.

Latchman added that the idea is to use the savings that will come from the reduced electricity and water costs to maintain the building and keep it in a decent condition.

At the Chateaubelair Smart Hospital and Clinic, there is a paediatric and maternity wing, improved nurse’s station, upgraded dentist room and pharmacy, better kitchen and laundry facilities and new and improved ventilation.

There is also an improved ambulance port and patient waiting area.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves delivered the feature address at the Smart hospital’s opening ceremony.

“We are witnessing before our very eyes a remarkable health revolution in St Vincent and the Grenadines,” the Prime Minister said. “It is not that we don’t have limitations, and we do, but the extent of the achievement in the health sector over the last 18 years has been simply remarkable. And just as important is the way in which the health sector is on a further trajectory for more advanced development.”

Gonsalves said that life expectancy is higher than it has ever been in this country. He added that before, many people died in their 40s and 50s from diseases they ought not to have died from.

But today, that has changed.

Life expectancy at birth for males is now 73.5 years and for females, 77.6 years. The average life expectancy is 75.5 years.

“The reason for this is because we are better nourished, we have better medical care, we have better social safety nets, our general standard of living is higher and we are going about our work in respect of our health, more sensibly than before,” he said.

Senator Carlos James, the Unity Labour Party candidate for North Leeward was given the opportunity to deliver brief remarks at Tuesday’s ceremony.

And he said that the consituency has developed significantly in terms of health, with several people having sought tertiary education in the field of medicine.

The first Smart hospital to be built in St Vincent and the Grenadines is located in Georgetown.