Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan told the Express newspaper Wednesday someone sabotaged a brain surgery drill at the Port of Spain General Hospital. He was responding to reports that one patient has died at the hospital because there was no drill.
Rahil Hosein died on October 6, because of the unavailability of the drill. Khan he knows that "a lot of people" need the drill.
He also said that he had asked the hospital to rent a drill at US$300 a day to perform the necessary surgeries as an interim measure. He said he gave that instruction almost a month ago.
The minister is trying to cut expenditure by reducing outsourcing of services. He said one brain surgery would cost more than $90,000 so it makes more sense to buy a new drill instead of sending patients to private hospitals and paying millions of dollars.
Khan complained that some people are resisting his attempts to make the health services more efficient and are sabotaging major pieces of equipment. He added that at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, someone cut a line of the CT scanning machine. And two cooling machines were down because of "unusual problems". The minister said the catherisation labs are always having problems because of a lack of servicing and maintenance.
Khan said, "I think people are resisting change. People live in a comfort zones and when you want to raise the bar and create a better system, people don't like it. They don't like a lot of things that are happening."
The Express also reported that the Medical Practitioners' Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) has called for an investigation to determine why the hospital did not have a functioning drill.
MPATT president Dr Shehenaz Mohammed said Hosein could have been transferred to the Mt Hope hospital for brain surgery.
However the minister said checks have revealed that the $3 million equipment was soaked in water. He said he has ordered the authorities to buy a new one.
Rahil Hosein died on October 6, because of the unavailability of the drill. Khan he knows that "a lot of people" need the drill.
He also said that he had asked the hospital to rent a drill at US$300 a day to perform the necessary surgeries as an interim measure. He said he gave that instruction almost a month ago.
The minister is trying to cut expenditure by reducing outsourcing of services. He said one brain surgery would cost more than $90,000 so it makes more sense to buy a new drill instead of sending patients to private hospitals and paying millions of dollars.
Khan complained that some people are resisting his attempts to make the health services more efficient and are sabotaging major pieces of equipment. He added that at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, someone cut a line of the CT scanning machine. And two cooling machines were down because of "unusual problems". The minister said the catherisation labs are always having problems because of a lack of servicing and maintenance.
Khan said, "I think people are resisting change. People live in a comfort zones and when you want to raise the bar and create a better system, people don't like it. They don't like a lot of things that are happening."
The Express also reported that the Medical Practitioners' Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) has called for an investigation to determine why the hospital did not have a functioning drill.
MPATT president Dr Shehenaz Mohammed said Hosein could have been transferred to the Mt Hope hospital for brain surgery.
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