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Health Ministry implements Health Facilities Act
The Health Ministry has commenced a process to fully implement the Health Facilities Licensing Act and, according to Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, all operators of existing facilities have up to the end of August to indicate their willingness to continue operating under the regulation.
The regulation which is expected to be in place within a year will see operators being prohibited from operating altogether if they fail to comply, the Minister said.
At the moment, the Minister pointed out, operators will have to write to the Ministry signalling their intent to apply for a licence to operate under the Health Facilities Act.
This, the Minister said, will see the operators meeting some of the conditions that have been established by the Ministry.
He disclosed that an orientation session will be held within the coming weeks with a view of familiarising existing operators with the new Act.
And according to the Minister, potential operators of any new facilities, including laboratories, dialysis centres, radiology or imaging centres or hospitals, must obtain a provisional licence before such facilities are even established.
“They can’t build a health facility then come to us for a licence because there is no automatic granting of a licence simply because you have invested in putting up large buildings. You must obtain the provisional licence and then you can proceed with construction.”
He, however, noted that a final licence will only become available to the operators after health officials have inspected the facility.
So far, the Minister said, the Ministry has been in receipt of letters of intention from two operators to establish a private hospital in Berbice and a new dialysis centre in Georgetown.
And while every type of health facility, both public and private, will come under the Act, at the moment small health centres and private doctors’ offices will not be targeted, Minister Ramsammy said.
Implementing the Act will see the Ministry carrying out two kinds of inspections which will examine the physical, technical and human resources aspects of the facility.
According to the Minister, an inspectorate will be dispatched to visit the facilities to ensure that they meet the requirements in the area of record keeping, solid waste management, and that they have the appropriate size for certain rooms such as X-ray and also that they have the kind of staff to deliver the services.
“We don’t expect that a laboratory will have no medical technologists. This doesn’t mean there is no place for an apprentice medical technician but they must be supervised, there must also be a pathologist…”
Further, Minister Ramsammy revealed that it would also be expected that health facilities will have proper environment measures in place to protect people from infection.
He said that the regulation points out very clearly that an X-ray room, for example, should have lead walls or a certain thickness of solid concrete. And according to the Minister, concrete blocks can in no way work to build the requisite solid concrete walls and ceiling to ensure that the radiation does not escape.
And while inspectors will be tasked with examining the physical structure of the facility, the Minister said that assessors, a separate batch of the inspectorate, will visit to conduct clinical audits to ensure that a quality service is being provided.
The Minister noted that since the regulations will require some time for the operators to implement measures, the Ministry has decided to allow them the one-year grace period.
However, he noted that “not because we are giving them one year means that they can ignore us for one year.”
It is for this reason, he added, that a request has been made that operators apply now for the licence which will later become available.
The Minister warned, though, that although the actual licensing process will not start now, the inspection of existing facilities will commence this year to ensure that they operate under certain minimum conditions.
He added that if there are not indications from operators to apply for licences, their operation will expire one day after the year expires.
In essence, the Minister said, there will be no “phasing in” period for operators.
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