Forget prayer, let’s work

Scarborough Hospital

A critical shortage of office space has been given as the reason behind a decision by General Manager (GM) for Organizational Effectiveness John Solomon to move to an area that had been designated as a chapel at the new Scarborough General Hospital in Signal Hill. Tobago. News received reports that Solomon had begun to install his office equipment in the chapel last Tuesday, creating quite a buzz among hospital workers. A well-placed source contended that medical and supporting staff face several teething problems including that of some serious space constraints, as they grapple with bringing the spanking new hospital into full operation.

The Chapel was incorporated into the plan for the hospital to provide relatives and friends of patients at the hospital an opportunity to pray for the recovery of the sick. It’s a concept that also obtains at several leading hospitals in the United States and other developed countries. Tobago News understands that one church organisation which requested to do regular prayer sessions at the chapel during the Lenten season must was also denied the opportunity.

The source also refuted claims made by a recent press release from the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) that the hospital kitchen was now fully operational. “The kitchen is not yet up and running and we still have to transport food from the old kitchen at the fort to the new hospital,” the source insisted. Both the hot water system and the carbon dioxide system are not working,” added the source. This had been the situation from day one. The only way to fix is to shut down the system for 24 hours to allow for solvent mending of the lines. They cannot do that so the lines just keep bursting as they try to mend,” the source revealed. The new hospital became fully operational last December after a construction period of over 12 years and a whooping cost of over $750 million.

The TRHA was asked to comment on the issue. However, up to press time, there was no response from the agency tasked with managing the island’s only hospital.

Source:TobagoNews