PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Tuesday, called for a comprehensive assessment of the Fort Wellington Hospital in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) after listening to complaints from residents of long hours of waiting and other issues being experienced when they visit the emergency department of the hospital.

The President took the Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Desmond Nicholson, to task for not having the issue addressed, as residents informed Dr. Ali of having made several reports on the incidents but there have been no results.

“We will do a comprehensive assessment of what is happening at Fort Wellington Hospital. The administrators have to be held responsible and I’m being very frank on this. Right here we are hearing the experiences,” the President said.

President Ali was at the time visiting residents of Bath Village, where he subsequently turned the sod for the new $6.6 billion Bath Regional Hospital.

The residents reported waiting times of one to two hours, while recounting incidents that happened as recently as a few days prior.

“Sometimes the doctor gone on lunch three hours. You gah go home and come back,” one resident said.

Another said: “I witnessed a man lie down for more than 20 minutes, and all them nurse and everybody fold them hands and watch this man. More than 20 times me make report about these things.”

Another man reported taking his daughter, who suffered from a heart defect, to the hospital recently and even in light of an emergency involving a child, his experience was the same.

“Last week me went. About 8:30am me daughter went in emergency, she does trouble with lil heart problem, she start froth. We wait on doctor, wait on doctor. Then them give she panadol. Use panadol? Panadol nah gah power,” the father expressed.

In wake of those reports, the RHO attempted to rebut the arguments of waiting times, but the residents were not deterred, and held their ground with their testimonies of their experiences.

President Ali, in response said: “You are saying about people not waiting an hour, but you are hearing right here evidence about people waiting an hour. Your attempt to refute it is being dismantled by the truth. These are people who are going for the service. You have to listen to them.”

Questioned if he was satisfied with the level of care at the hospital, the RHO said there was room for improvement.

“And what are you doing to correct it? You are the one I’m going to hold responsible because these are tremendous reports on this hospital and this is the type of response that you get that will not create positive results,” Dr. Ali said to him.

The RHO said that the hospital has 14 doctors, but that the doctors also cover the health centres in the region.

The President related that with the government making the necessary investments those tasked with service delivery must deliver.