The new 100-bed institution offers multiple services including neonatal care, a 24 hour accident and emergency ward, 4 operating theatres, a pharmacy, medical imaging and rehabilitation, among others.
“I’m proud to tell Tobagonians that the Scarborough General Hospital is ready for business,” Secretary of Health and Social Services Claudia Groome-Duke said on Wednesday at a media conference and tour of the facility.
On Saturday, 46 in-patients were transferred from the Scarborough Regional Hospital to the Scarborough General Hospital in a project dubbed “Operation Nightingale.” The Policy Oversight Committee oversaw the hospital transfer team that included the Division of Health and Social Services, TEMA and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Groome-Duke said that time management was the most challenging aspect in transferring the in-patients. She noted that patients were relocated in just three and a half hours way below the five to six hours originally estimated. Other patients were discharged before the transfer after “strict examinations and only after advice from medical professionals,” she added.
THA Chief Secretary Orville London indicated that the responsibility of the delivery of the hospital services was under the THA. “As far as I am concerned, this hospital is the responsibility of the people of Tobago and the people of Tobago have a responsibility to maximize the resources of the hospital,” he said
London commended the professionals at the hospital and congratulated them on the recent award for “Excellence in Service Delivery.” The award was given by the Ministry of Public Administration.
He added: “It means that we don’t only have the commitment, we don’t only have the potential, but we have the capacity. And therefore, that places pressure on us because it means we have demonstrated that we could do it and therefore we have no excuses not to do it.”
Following the briefing, the Chief Secretary, Health Secretary, other Division Secretaries and representatives, as well as professionals in the healthcare sector toured the accident and emergency war, pediatrics ward and maternity ward of the institution, interacting with the doctors, staff members and patients of the new hospital.