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QEH on Death Bed

It has come as no surprise to many tthe Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) continues to be affected by shortages of critical medical supplies. Despite assurances from Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) officials that  care to the critically ill will not be compromised by the current state, BU remains stoutly sceptical and pray to the…

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John Boyce, Minister of Health
John Boyce, Minister of Health

It has come as no surprise to many tthe Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) continues to be affected by shortages of critical medical supplies. Despite assurances from Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) officials that  care to the critically ill will not be compromised by the current state, BU remains stoutly sceptical and pray to the gods members of the BU household do not become afflicted by any serious malady in the near future.   To listen to Minister John Boyce condescendingly advising Barbadians not to panic in the Lower House has done nothing to dissuade our view.

Who in their right mind believed that a 35 million dollar cut to the health budget 2013 would not have adversely affected healthcare delivery in Barbados? Explaining the cuts last year Minister John Boyce also gave an assurance , “ … that cost reduction measures at QEH were being taken in consultation with the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, the Medical Staff Committee, and the Barbados Registered Nurses Association” – see  Boyce lists QEH cuts. BU is willing to be corrected but it seems the government through its agent Minister Boyce picked a number, in this case it was  $35 million, with the unrealistic expectation to be able to find budget heads to cut to achieve the target. Bear in mind the CEO Dexter James was quoted in the media in 2012 confirming that the QEH required $200 million to finance the current hospital model and had received a budget of $154 million, a shortfall of 46 million.

The idiocy!

Is this the same John Boyce who was transferred from the Ministry of Public Works and who literally added to the woes of the Transport Board by requesting the biggest subsidy in its existence? What confidence therefore can he command as head of the Ministry of Health, one of the biggest ministries?

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is not blameless, before being booted from office in 2008 Barbadians were promised a change from a QEH managed as a government department to an autonomous Statutory Board. And that it would have resulted in better days for the QEH.

You be the judge!

The health of a nation is the wealth of a nation.

181 responses to “QEH on Death Bed”

  1. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    @ Tell me Why | July 10, 2014 at 12:35 PM |

    Sweet! This was one of your best posts! Goood!

  2. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Small things does add up. My sister works in hospital. Some nurses and other personnel take up and take home supplies such as alcohol, disposable gloves, milk, and syringes to name a few. They can get medication for themselves, friends and family without have a prescription. We are stealing from ourselves. This reminds me of when Liz Thompson bemoaned the fact that after these public showers/baths are built, the fixtures from them are stolen by BAJANS. We as a people need to stop doing this.

  3. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Also I went to the bathroom at QEH at there was no liquid soap. That moment a maid was there and she complained that ‘the men’ that does wash cars and other people does come and steal all the soap. That she just filled up the dispenser only a short time ago.

  4. ac Avatar
    ac

    yeap beyond your wildest dreams……what happened in the past is critical to what happen in the future,,you and other blp yardfowls like to jump in the paling day in and night out and sing the praises of a so called great blp govt ..who wunna want EVERybody to believe that it did the whole of BARBADOS and Barbadians a favour for being in office for fourteen years,,but when truth and facts are driven home about the flaws and failures of the fourteen year reign of govt,,all hell broke loose .like it or lump it .there are both sides to a story and unless both sides are told,,the TRUTH would always be exempt,,
    The ongoing saga and the disruptive and problematic issues at the QEH ,,has now reached the boiling point because of an inept BLP govt who had refused to tackle those problems at a time when things were less costly and money and time was in abundance ,,, like they say day runs until night catches,,,,yes night has come…..and in the darkness not one gleam of light can be found,,,,after all those years of plenty,,,

  5. pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    pieceuhderockyeahright

    Animals only kill to eat, carnivores store meat during lean times as part of their survival requirement, squirrels store nuts to carry them through winter, the bear eats, said food is converted to fat for the winter and imminent hibernation.

    Man waste all of the resources as in the decimation of the buffalo, the dodo bird the elephant, the rhinoceros just for sport.

    Bulbados has a special breed of man rather abuser of resources for between throwing our garbade out of moving cars, buses and trucks behaviour (which even the cat, after shiting covers its faeces), the nigger breed that we are goes one step further.

    By an encroaching mechanism we niggers have developed the mentality that 2 reams of paper from the “office” for my chile to do their english homework for the teacher is natural.

    We have taken consolation in Little sin/big sin so the same persons would be the first to call Michael Lashes a tief for stealing the millions of $$ in kickbacks from Maloney scams BUT thinks nothing about tiefing alcohol gauze or liquid soap from the men’s room.

    If we catch them, let them get lock up and this practice will stop…but then again it is near ten oclock and the last insulin shot wearing off and the ole man starting to babble again…

  6. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Caswell “I heard in the news Michael Carrington recommending that the buildings of the now defunct Louis Lynch Secondary School as a shelter for fire victims”

    I heard this too and I could not believe it. people who spent 6 hours a day in the Louis Lynch school are dying…and a Cabinet Minister dares to suggest that we compel fire victims to live there. And as always fire victims include infants and very young children.

    And anybody with any sense understands that fetuses and young children are extremely vulnerable to chemical contamination.

    Dear Michael: I can’t believe that after so much of our tax money was used to send you to school you still seem to have no sense.

    Why not house the fire victims at Ilaro Court. I hear that the place is empty for years at a time. It has nice grounds where little children can play.

    The electricity, water and air conditioning are all connected. The beds are made. There is food in the cupboards. And a staff to keep things neat and tidy. The more I think about my idea, the more I like it.

    And we the people have already paid for Ilaro Court.

  7. conscious Avatar
    conscious

    ac
    Wow the more you speak, the more I am amused. Not everyone who disagrees is a BLP member. I am certainly not. But one is entitled to give his or her own opinion whether you like it or not. How do you tolerate yourself. It is very painful reading your comments. It grieves me to see that you are so shallow. To you the BLP was inept and to others the DLP is more inept. Is that a fair statement? We are both winners I hope!

  8. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    I remember when Branford Taitt was Minister of Health the QEH was in crisis also. At the time he wanted staff to wash and reuse gloves. They rightfully refused. In places where that nonsense is done hepatitis is rife.

    This mis-management of the QEH like it is a DLP thing

  9. ac Avatar
    ac

    here is another nugget,,,,,this is what BAMP said about the QEH in 2007 when the BLP was in power

    BAMP Wants QEH Board To Resign

    The Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners is calling for the resignation of the entire board of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
    BAMP is warning Barbadians that it’s willing to undertake whatever action it deems necessary to effect change at the hospital.
    This as it accuses the board of failing in its mandate to improve patient care at the premier health care facility.
    In a strongly worded two page letter to the chairman of the QEH’s board, BAMP has called for a response by August 24.
    BAMP is accusing the board of the QEH of failing to correct the many ills plaguing that institution.
    And it says this has occurred despite the Board’s assurances that it has the right medicine for the facility
    BAMP says it has reviewed at length the various problems facing the QEH and has received little attention, if any by the QEH’s board
    BAMP also charges that despite numerous requests from heads of department at the QEH for basic material and equipment Supplies are unavailable on a day to day basis, adding that the hospital owes its suppliers millions of dollars, with some of them not being paid for over four months..

    footnote,,,,,,the BLP govt had fourteen years to take care of such critical issues which have now reoccurred and impacting the health of a nation..YES it was these failure upon which all have to pay the consequence,,,, .

  10. pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    pieceuhderockyeahright

    @ AC

    “You have to give Jack his jacket and Tom his coat” as the old bajan saying goes. I will engage on this topic because what you are saying has a modicum of reason.

    Both parties, incompetent as they are, and have been for some time, have been unable to manage the operation(s) of the QEH for several years running.

    I am not a hospital administrator but it would seem to me that they have soooo many problems in sooo many areas that they dont know where to begin

    Given the amount of malpractice suits outstanding against the QEH under both administrations and the amount of surgical scissors and gauze that has been let inside people post operations that have led to sepsis, suffering and death, I would think that it is time that something is done? Dont you?

    A recent blogger made the comment that health should not be seen as a partisan/political thing notwithstanding that it is due to incompetent politicians that we find ourselves where we are today.

    Maybe, as harsh and charlatan as it may seem to say, maybe if more of our family and relatives were to die at the QEH in agony and undesirable circumstances, the collective consciousness of the Bulbadians would be awakened to the simple realization that, if you give a monkey a loaded gun, you really saying that you are tired of living, when it starts to pull the trigger.

  11. ac Avatar
    ac

    who would not like to see the problems of any system resolve.my intervention via comments is to inform those who are adamant to seek quick economic resolve to all and every issue that affects barbadian is for them to take a step back and understand that these issues did not happen overnight but were in the making for many years and should have been given the greatest priority information…having to avoid now has become failed policiesand a govt which is short on cash and a society looking for answers and quick resolve..this is a dangerous path which we have followed and the question we must ask ourselves is how do we fix these problems without digging ourselves into more debt.not an easy solutions either way barbadians going to have to pay a heavy price in seeking resolve whether B or D

  12. David Avatar
    David

    Good to see local media really pushing the cailing QEH and Muni Tax issues.

  13. nationnews Avatar
    nationnews

    What the public needs is fair and balanced reporting of all the issues , not sensationalism and misplaced party allegiance by media

  14. just asking Avatar
    just asking

    I am an old aged pensioner, went for my diabetic medication this morning which was not available to be dispensed to me, so what am I to do now, Because I am old when my blood sugar go up just lie down & die? are there no rights for us who worked for our country all our lives paid our taxes, NIS, & everything else that was thrown at us. Come on Mia Mottley, & Owen Arthur please work together to better the lives of Barbadians instead of trying Grandiose yourselves. Does it matter who is boss if the lives of Barbadians are being looked after? Old aged pensioners are being compromised when they cannot get their medication, when they cannot buy the things at the supermarket such as fruit & vegetables, do something!!!!!!

  15. Dompey Avatar
    Dompey

    For an old age pensioner with your medical necessity, I must say your writing skills are amongst the best and your eyes are sharper than eagle.

  16. Dompey Avatar
    Dompey

    Whoever continues to address my writing with a negative mark cease and desist because it doesn’t in any meaningful way change the force of what I am endeavoring to convey.

  17. Dompey Avatar
    Dompey

    Okay David, I can take a hint…. I am not one of the favorites here on BU, who acts without any impunity. But, I nonetheless, respect your resolve in stand your ground on issues that are in support of the BLP agenda and those that are contrary to the DLP ones.

  18. ac Avatar
    ac

    here is another golden nugget as to what the then bLP minister of health had to say about the sad state of affair in 2007. after fourteen years in office and face with impending disater at the QEH,,

    No A&E Quick Fix

    IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, says Minister of Health Jerome Walcott, for everyone who walks into the Accident & Emergency (A&E) Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to be treated immediately.
    However, he said, to ease some of the pressure on the department which had about 42 000 to 45 000 passing through it last year, from April 1 two polyclinics – Maurice Byer in St Peter and Randal Phillips in Christ Church – would have extended opening hours.
    Walcott made the disclosure ata Barbados Labour Party St Philip West branch meeting at St Patrick’s Primary School last Sunday.
    He said that despite the fast track/walk-in clinic at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic which opens up to 10 p.m. on weekdaysand 6 p.m. on Saturdays, people with minor injuries/ailmentswere reluctant to go there.
    There were plans for the “modernisation and expansion”of the A&E, the minister said, noting that a small unit, with a doctor and nurse, would be set up at the QEH to cater to those patients with minor ailments.
    Commenting on stories on the A&E in the last SUNDAY SUN, Walcott said he was “disappointed” with the tone of the articles.
    “No comment was made as to what [the nurses and doctors] were seeing, what sort of cases they were dealing with, what they were doing in the stat room at the same point in time when you were in the waiting room, what was actually happening in there, who was being resuscitated, which stab wound was being dealt with, which asthmatic . . . . No comment as to what was happening in the Accident & Emergency facility. They were just subjective comments.”

    take note blp yardfowls,,what is happening at the QEH today with the flaws and failures are in part due to inefficiencies and ineptness of the OSA administration..

  19. ac Avatar
    ac

    dompey don.t pay attention to the yardfowls measuring stick,, at Saturday march..they could not even get fifty of their own to support t,,BU is the only stomping ground where they foolishly believe that any thing they say is of relevance or importance,,,,don;t let these malcontents belive that their nays command or demonstrate any significant contol or power over what u say,,,,,,i see there foolish games and steupse…………

  20. ac Avatar
    ac

    here is what the BLP promised in 2003 as for an improved QEH,,,,,,after fourteen years in office,,nothing was done inspite of having a healthy economic environment,,,and sufficient finances to make changes,,yet today the paling cocks expect what was not done by the blp in fourteen years to be accomplished by a cash strapped govt in six years,,,,,
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    The entire Hospital will be computerised to improve efficiency, enabling staff to access information, and to provide timely laboratory and X-ray reports
    The BLP will fully support the total recapitalisation of the QEH.

    l;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

    so folks bLP yardfowls what happened,,,,,,,,,and to think that all the hue and cry in the past days is coming from the bunch of mongrels who did absoluetly nothing about the anemic condition of QEH and could and should have injected the QEH with much needed oxygen in good economic times ,,but instead left it on life support for the new govt to resuscitate,,,,good grief….

  21. Eye of the south Avatar
    Eye of the south

    John Boyce again ! Every thing that loud mouth puts his hands on falls flat. He is unable to get teams to work together. He appoints his lackeys to the board wherever he is.

    The current board should go and a new competent one appointed. He leave MTW in a total mess and completely demoralized. Minister Lashley fighting hard to bring it together now.

    Michael Lashley repairing all the roads that the ” beast of burden ” started and left in dust. He is collaborating with the Transport Board manager who John did not respect as she is more competent that him.

    He has the management & staff of the QEH totally fed-up and they can’t wait to see the back of him.

    He should be retrenched as part of the cost cutting measures. He brings no value to the ministry and especially one as critical as Health.

    Please dear God save us from the ” beast of burden “.

  22. Dompey Avatar
    Dompey

    Animals only kill to eat. What a load of crap, the African Lion kill his enemy the leopard to eat?

  23. just asking Avatar
    just asking

    ac is the biggest yard fowl ever to write on this media, This is a pot calling a kettle black, hysterical!!!!

  24. Lemuel Avatar
    Lemuel

    Donville Inniss are writing here as Eye On the South!!

  25. ac Avatar
    ac

    here is what the BLP promised in 2003 as for an improved QEH,,,,,,after fourteen years in office,,nothing was done inspite of having a healthy economic environment,,,and sufficient finances to make changes,,yet today the paling cocks expect what was not done by the blp in fourteen years to be accomplished by a cash strapped govt in six years,,,,,
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    The entire Hospital will be computerised to improve efficiency, enabling staff to access information, and to provide timely laboratory and X-ray reports
    The BLP will fully support the total recapitalisation of the QEH.

  26. ac Avatar
    ac

    Not paying for glasses
    Published on: 12/12/07.

    I THINK the people of Barbados need to know what is going on at the Winston Scott Polyclinic.
    My son was sent there, through his school, because his teacher noticed he could not see the chalkboard.
    He was seen by a nice doctor who explained that the youngster was myopic and would need to wear glasses all the time and sit at the front of the class.
    After the eye test, he was given a prescription to get his free glasses, but I was told he could not get them as the polyclinic/Ministry of Health was not paying its bills to the company that was supplying glasses to schoolchildren.
    I was very angry and upset about this as my son is sitting his 11-Plus examination in a few months’ time and cannot see. I was told to complain to the Minister of Health or my MP.
    I went to the company that supplies the glasses and explained that the little boy’s eyes were very bad, he could not see. I begged the company to give him the glasses.
    After the eye test, he was given a prescription to get his free glasses, but I was told he could not get them as the polyclinic/Ministry of Health was not paying its bills to the company that was supplying glasses to schoolchildren.
    I was very angry and upset about this as my son is sitting his 11-Plus examination in a few months’ time and cannot see. I was told to complain to the Minister of Health or my MP.
    I went to the company that supplies the glasses and explained that the little boy’s eyes were very bad, he could not see. I begged the company to give him the glasses.
    It was very understanding but could not help as it said it was not paid for 11 months by the polyclinic and could not pay its suppliers.

    welll all this in a time when the blp was in power and money was flowing like milk and honey….

  27. Barbados: Haushaltskürzungen lassen Gesundheitssystem nach Luft schnappen · Global Voices auf Deutsch

    […] Barbados Underground [en] fürchtet, dass die wichtigste medizinische Einrichtung des Landes, das Queen Elizabeth Krankenhaus, auf dem Sterbebett liegt. […]

  28. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    How sad, to see every, yes, EVERY, part of Governmental service falling apart.

    Goodnight, will the last one please turn off the lights.

    It was good while it lasted, this thing we called Independence. There were some good times, some good leaders previously.

    No longer. It is indeed over.

    Goodnight.

  29. ac Avatar
    ac

    wuh took u and others so long to realise that an economy built on debt would sooner or latter fall to the ground,,,a day short and fourteen years too late,,,,,, there is still a little bit of grease left in the old broken down wagon..however everybody got to take time greasing the wheel,,,,,,,even when the belly ache…..ryan straughan and all the monday morning quater backs,,,,,should have been sounding the alarm years ago,,,….not after the horse bolted out the door,,

  30. David Avatar
    David

    @Crusoe

    For those of us on the rock, we know how bad. May God help us.

  31. Mac10 Avatar
    Mac10

    INTERNATIONALCELLOU BINANI / AFP / GETTY IMAGES
    UN warns West Africans to stay away from fruit bats as Ebola spreads
    The UN’s food agency is warning that fruit bats,€“ common in stews in West Africa, are likely to spread the disease
    July 21, 2014 5:01PM ET
    As the death toll from the world’s deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak surged past 600 in West Africa, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned West Africans to stay away from certain popular wildlife species that are thought to carry the disease.

    “We are not suggesting that people stop hunting altogether, which isn’t realistic,” FAO’s chief veterinary officer Juan Lubroth said in a release on Monday. “But communities need clear advice on the need not to touch dead animals or to sell or eat the meat of any animal that they find already dead. They should also avoid hunting animals that are sick or behaving strangely, as this is another red flag.”

    Fruit bats are among the most notorious for spreading disease, according to the FAO. The U.N. organization said West Africa’s current epidemic, which has so far killed at least 604 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, was probably first transferred from an infected animal, and then began spreading between people. Ebola is transferred by direct contact with the blood or body of infected people or animals.

    Fruit bats are often eaten dried, or as part of a soup in West Africa. Unlike other animals, they may show no signs of having been infected with Ebola, so the U.N. recommends that they be avoided altogether.

    Several African governments have tried to ban the sales of bat and other meats because of their potential to carry disease, but medical pronouncements and medical professionals are often greeted with suspicion in rural parts of West Africa.

    “There is a lot of mistrust to the extent that people are hiding patients rather than getting medical help, and it’s very difficult to control the disease in the midst of many myths and rumors,” said Katinka de Balogh, FAO’s veterinary public health officer.

    Ebola, which can cause organ failure and internal bleeding, is deadly for 90 percent of people who contract it.

    http://www.america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/21/ebola-fruit-bats.html

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