MANAGEMENT of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation(GPHC) wishes to make a statement in response to an article published in the Tuesday, March 29, 2011 edition of the Kaieteur Newspaper captioned, ‘Patients forced to share bed in GPHC’. Management admits to this shortcoming, but has been pleading with clients to understand that although this problem is unfortunate, it cannot be avoided. It is noteworthy that GPHC is the only National Referral Hospital in the country, which saw 4263 referrals from hospitals in all the regions in 2010.
Moreover, the hospital cannot and will not refuse to admit a patient who requires same for the sake of not having enough bed space. Unfortunately, this discomfort will continue to be faced until the new inpatient facility is complete, which in the first phase will accommodate two hundred and fourteen (214) patients with each to a bed. The sharing of a bed is not a choice, but a reality which must be faced.
Please be reminded that as a result of the demolition of the Old Surgical block and subsequent transfer of patients into the temporary wards, the situation of adequate space and appropriate accommodation became a problem for the hospital’s administration.
However, it was only recently made public by the Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsarran that the new in-patient facility will be open within a few weeks and this will obviously ease the burden of the lack of space which is currently being experienced by patients and staff alike.
Management also wishes to inform, if not remind, media operatives and the relatives of patients that it is against hospital policy to take photographs of patients and/or the wards without the expressed written consent of the Chief Executive Officer. Further, it must be reiterated that the contracted staff are working tirelessly (day and night) to have the facility ready for occupancy.