??

Minister of Health, Donville Inniss (centre) speaking on issues related to the QEH with CBC’s Junior Evanson while President of Rotary International Dong Kurn Lee and Assistant Governor of the Rotary Club of Barbados West, Peter Griffith look on.????

The contribution of the Rotary Club of Barbados West to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and Rotary as a whole has not gone unnoticed.

Health Minister Donville Inniss acknowledged this recently, as he accompanied the President of Rotary International, Dong Kurn Lee and other Rotarians on a guided tour of the Dialysis Unit and the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at the QEH

Acknowledging that he was ???very appreciative??? of the role played by Rotarians in the development of facilities at the QEH, Minister Inniss observed that wonderful work had been done in the Paediatric Unit, ???providing a modern facility, for the comfort not only of the patients but of the staff and relatives who have sick ones there???.

He said: ???I am certainly grateful to Rotary for the work they have done in expanding our Artificial Kidney Unit and the Nephrology Department that is now able to accommodate almost 80 percent of those who require dialysis in Barbados.???

Explaining that work would soon be done on the MICU, Mr. Inniss said: ???We have a great relationship with Rotary in Barbados and [are] very grateful that the President of Rotary International could be here to see how his Association has been making a meaningful impact on the lives of ordinary Barbadians, who use the QEH.???

The Health Minister also stressed that his administration wanted to encourage a culture of corporate giving to health care in Barbados. He said: ???It is accepted that the Government cannot do it all alone and we certainly want to encourage corporate Barbados to give generously to health care. The Rotary has been successful at what it has been doing because it has received good support from corporate Barbados and even where one cannot or, doesn???t feel the need to give directly, through organisations like Rotary; they have been able to see how their contribution is making a difference in the lives of ordinary Barbadians.???

Assistant Governor of Rotary West, Peter Griffith, revealed that his organisation would likely spend close to $400,000 developing the MICU.

He said: ???We are looking at renovating the ward.?? It started basically when we moved the Dialysis Unit to what was then the outpatients??? clinic ??? that became available – and we recognised that it was necessary to increase the amount of beds in the MICU and we immediately proposed to the hospital that we would partner with them on that. The patients were moved and we are now ready to look forward to the start of work.???

And, he described the future state of the MICU as a move away from six to 10 beds, and said there would be facilities ???similar to that of the Dialysis Unit with counselling areas and the ward will now be modernised to be brought to international standards.???

Mr. Griffith opined: ???I think that will probably have the most impact of all the projects we have had.

The Dialysis Unit we know is a very important one, but you can never tell when any of us will need the medical attention in the MICU or dialysis, for that matter. So we try to focus on two or three year projects with enough funds that we can do something meaningful, that the broader cross section of the community in Barbados will benefit.???

Disclosing that a meeting would be convened over the next week to address the issue, he said: ???I believe that within a matter of three or four weeks we will be on our way. We are looking at about $400,000 as well, and I am sure the hospital will be putting up all the equipment ??? and we will expect that in four to five months we will have a new ward ready for patients.???

Meanwhile, President of Rotary International, Dung Khun Lee, commended the QEH on its ???good work??? and noted that it was as a result of collaborative efforts that the goal of reducing child mortality was being attained. ???This kind of project [Rotary/QEH] is really very important???, he stressed.

jgill@barbados.gov.bb

 

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