Close to $200M is to be spent over the next 18 months to install 14 new elevators at hospitals in the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA). This announcement was made by Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, who delivered the main address at the latest elevator commissioning ceremony held at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital on Friday, July 12. This new elevator, at one of the island’s main multidisciplinary and referral institutions, was installed at a cost of approximately $17M and is the sixth such project to be supported by the National Health Fund (NHF), an agency of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
“I am pleased to see the results from the audit that I requested, examining the infrastructural needs of the major hospitals, specifically the state of the hospital elevators. It is important that we change the mode of planning in public health from one of reactive, to strategic. In addition to the new elevators, the health authority and the hospitals are also to develop a maintenance plan as well as a training programme for their technicians, who will have responsibility to ensure that the equipment is always fully functional.” Dr. Tufton noted during his main address at the ceremony.
The hospitals to receive new elevators include the National Chest Hospital – 2; Kingston Public Hospital (4- one already installed); Spanish Town Hospital (2 – one already installed); Bustamante Hospital for Children 1; Princess Margaret Hospital – 1 and Victoria Jubilee Hospital (4 -one installed).
SERHA presently serves approximately 1.4 Million people in Kingston & St. Andrew, St. Catherine and St. Thomas providing tertiary rehabilitative and curative services.