The original article can be found in: Barbados Advocate By Amanda Nieves
The region’s premier health care facility celebrated its 48th Anniversary yesterday.
According to CEO, Dr. Dexter James, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is committed to continue to make improvements in all areas as it caters to tens of thousands of Barbadians yearly.
Dr. James was speaking at the cake cutting ceremony to mark the 48-year milestone at the hospital yesterday. He took the time to highlight the valuable contribution to the society that the hospital makes every day.
“Today, in excess of 40 000 patients have access to emergency care at the Accident and Emergency Department; in excess of 16 000 on an annual basis are alive today because of the excellent work our EMTs and paramedics do. We admit at least 22 000 patients a year; in excess of 3 000 babies are delivered safely and if not, we have our neo-natal intensive care and paediatric intensive care units to take care of them,” Dr. James pointed out.
He reiterated that there is a lot to celebrate because no other public health facility provides the wide range of services that are available at the QEH.
Dr. James said that the focus remains on carrying out the hospital’s vision to become more equipped with information and communication technology.
“Significant strides have been made in that direction already. We continue to explore the benefits that information and communications technology can provide us…. We have our laboratory in the early stages of computerisation and are even now able to disseminate results on a real time basis,” Dr. James said.
He added that the installation of the radiology information system will be completed shortly, which will put the hospital in a position to further explore the value of the use of technology.
Acknowledging the fact that the hospital is short of funds, only receiving $154 million in government funding a year, the CEO maintained that the best use is made of all resources.“We all know that we are operating with limited resources, it is no secret that it costs in excess of $200 million to provide the package of services that we currently provide. We are short of funds, we receive only $154 million per year. But what we need to assure ourselves and the population is that we are making the best use of the resources. It means that the talent that lies within the twenty-one hundred employees that work with us must rise to the fore, there is no time for waste. So we need to work hard, we need to be productive, we need to be smart so that we can ensure we provide value for money for the resources that we provide at the QEH,” Dr. James stressed.
The Anniversary celebrations continue with Open Day at the hospital today, Thursday, Karaoke Day on Friday; and on Saturday the first annual Charity Golf Classic at Barbados Golf Club in Durants, to raise funds for patients with below the knee amputations.
