By Peter Ngunjiri:
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 1, 2018 (PLP PR Media Inc.)* — The adage ‘good things come to those who wait’ rang true for residents of the Keys to Saddlers Medical District when on Tuesday July 31, Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris re-commissioned two essential services that had been lacking at the Molineux-based Mary Charles Hospital.
Prime Minister Harris, who is also the area Parliamentary Representative, observed that the Mary Charles Hospital had been allowed to run down to a level where its roof collapsed in 2015. Team Unity Administration refurbished the facility and in 2016 unveiled a brand new hospital to serve the residents. On Tuesday July 31, the hospital’s Dental Unit and EMT/Ambulance Service were re-commissioned.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mrs Delores Stapleton Harris, who chaired the day’s proceedings had some welcome news when she told the gathered crowd on the grounds of the hospital: “Not only are we commissioning a new dental clinic, but also a new ambulance (and may I say the largest ambulance in the country) with EMT institution.”
According to the Permanent Secretary, Ambulance Services are the primary providers of a 24/7 response to medial and trauma related emergencies in a country. Such a service at the Mary Charles Hospital will provide a disciplined and organised system with the necessary equipment, expertise and experience in emergency intervention, assessment, management and transport of patients in a variety of situations/environments and allowing a timely response of appropriately trained EMT personnel and qualified healthcare workers to address medical emergencies.
“Our presence here attests to the prominence and value being placed in the quality of health of our people,” said Mrs Delores Stapleton Harris. “This is a time for much celebration indeed. For today, the Team Unity Government is delivering on yet another strategic goal outlined in the National Strategic Plan for Health (2017-2021) as it embraces the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal #3 – Family Health, Good Health and Wellbeing.”
She advised that the Ministry of Health is committed to providing Health Care for all in a holistic manner, embracing the basic tenets, and stressing the point that she was talking about care that is available,
equitable, accessible, and affordable for all strata of the entire population.
“According to the WHO Global Strategy, the prevention and control of oral and dental disease is a new approach to managing the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases,” advised Mrs Harris. “The new Dental Clinic to be commissioned this morning is an attestation to the fact that we
understand the need, have invested, and are executing.”
She summed up by saying: “This re-commissioning symbolises the awesome awareness and investment in health care by the Ministry of Health and the Team Unity Government.”