The Ministry of Health and Wellness wishes to advise that all efforts are being made to ensure the island’s public hospitals are adequately supplied with medical-grade oxygen to safeguard the best possible health outcomes for patients in need.
Following shortages experienced at the weekend, a number of the island’s public hospitals have now been provided with liquid oxygen for between seven and 14 days of usage. They are:
- the Kingston Public Hospital/Victoria Jubilee Hospital,
- the University Hospital of the West Indies,
- the Bustamante Hospital for Children,
- the Spanish Town Hospital,
- the Mandeville Hospital, and
- the May Pen Hospital.
An additional 100 cylinders have been sent to the Cornwall Regional Hospital & 50 to the Spanish Town Hospital, to complement their existing float. This allows them some two to three days of cylinder medical oxygen on hand.
Bulk medical oxygen storage at the National Chest Hospital is being expanded by 100 per cent while a liquid oxygen tank will be installed at the Falmouth Hospital later this week to provide storage for up to three weeks’ usage at that facility.
Further:
- Bulk storage is shortly to be commissioned for Annotto Bay Hospital while Savanna-la-Mar Hospital received three weeks’ storage of liquid oxygen today; and
- Percy Junor will be upgraded to accommodate two weeks’ storage in a few days.
Information from the supplier, IGL Limited, is that all other hospitals are adequately supplied as of today, “and are to remain that way as we received additional cylinders on Sunday, with an additional 450 coming in early April, just to ensure we have surplus”.
The supplier has also indicated that their production plant is running well even as they will bring product to the island to subsidise the demand for as long as is needed.