The Linden Hospital Complex always tries to provide high quality health care service

Jul 17, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I refer to an article titled, “All is not right at the Linden Hospital Complex” by Vanessa Kissoon in Kaieteur News of July 3rd.
Firstly, with regard to the allegation that laundry at the hospital is not working I am happy to report that it is now functioning.
The laundry was the last department to be transferred to the new hospital, in the process of relocating this department to its new location some problems were encountered when the machines were turned on; however, these problems were remedied immediately.
The administration of LHC explored the possibility of using local laundromats, but after careful consideration thought that Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation (GPHC) was more suitable.  Especially as we needed to have sterile linens supplied to the hospital.
Secondly, ever since the hospital opened its doors in September last, I can say without hesitation that this is the first time the hospital has seen and over spill of in-patients.
This lasted for a very short period; we anticipate that the recurrence of this condition will be forestalled by the re-establishment of the female ward facility at the Upper Demerara Hospital (UDH).
The overspill of female patients was housed in a separate cubicle from the male in-patient population. The LHC will not repudiate any patient because a particular ward is filled, we will try our utmost to make provisions to accommodate those patients, so that they will be able to receive medical attention. It is to be noted that the occupancy rate for this ward usually hovers around 60-65% most of the time and the staff assigned to this area is usually adequate.
Linden Hospital Complex has already identified several medical personnel who will be trained to operate the Ultra Sound Machine that is housed at the hospital.
The administration is currently discussing where the training will be held with the relevant authorities.
It is a known fact that the Linden Hospital Complex is not responsible for the quality of water that comes through the taps.  For the past week GWI sent out notices apologising to the public about the quality of water some areas were receiving, regrettably the Linden Hospital Complex is located in one of the affected areas.  LHC was not without water for two days, we might have had some minor disruptions over the last month either because of the non supply from GWI or because of maintenance work being done to our water system.
In relation to issue of maids having to clean doctor’s quarters, maids are allotted to clean a doctor’s quarters for an initial period to ensure that the house handed over to him/her is in good condition.
After that it is the doctor’s responsibility to do his/her own cleaning.
However, this is not the case for the Chinese doctors; because the institution has to adhere to a protocol signed between the Government of Guyana and the Government of China governing the employment of these doctors in Guyana. The maids are arranged by schedule either to clean the hospital or doctor’s quarters
This institution has an organisational chart that allows for the adequate supply of nurses to patients. Nonetheless, from time to time this number may be affected by training programmes for nurses or absenteeism.
Student Nurses that are identified for training at the Charles Roza School of Nursing are not guaranteed placement at the Linden Hospital Complex because some of these nurses are also identified for placement at various medical institutions throughout the length and breadth of Guyana.
Student nurses emanate from far flung regions such as; regions 1, 7, 8 and 9, this therefore means that, after they would have completed their training those nurses are then sent back to their regions to put into practice what they would have learnt from the Charles Roza School of Nursing. The Ministry of Health is working out the arrangements to properly accommodate nurses who were dispatched to various outlying regions.
The MOH is committed to the delivery of more and better services to all Guyanese and more opportunities from which all can benefit.
We were happy to note that, Ms. Kissoon had no complaints about the quality of her medical management while, she was an in-patient at our facility and during which time she was accumulating the list of complaints which, she made public.
Ms. Kissoon had also raised this same list of complaints with the CEO when he visited her at her bedside and he had given an undertaking that he would address them.
The management and staff of the Linden Hospital Complex try always to conform to the mission statement, “To provide high quality Health care service through team work and with compassionate care.”
Reycia Nedd
Public Relations Officer

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