Health minister confident of first class service to Saint Lucians
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Health minister confident of first class service to Saint Lucians |
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Contact: Adhara King
Monday 24 January 2011 – Minister for Health, Wellness, Family Affairs, National Mobilisation, Human Services, and Gender Relations- Honourable Keith Mondesir says his ministry is making significant progress towards ensuring that Saint Lucians are provided with a health service that is on par with international practices.
Within the last year, Mondesir says, renovations were undertaken in 15 health centres island-wide.
With a re-branding to “Wellness Centres” the ministry is emphasizing a proactive approach to maintaining a healthy balance of the mind, body, and spirit.
“We are trying to engage for the future, a Centre of Excellence in Radiology. We have a complete radiology section at the Wellness Centre, and we are now engaging people who will come in on a joint venture basis with government to put things like CT scans, MRIs, mammograms and ultrasounds, at a cost that will be affordable to the people of Saint Lucia.”
The minister also announced that the new general hospital is approximately sixty percent complete, and is well placed to fulfil its estimated completion in 2012.
A Center of Excellence for Vision has already been established at the Victoria Hospital.
“We are in the process of developing the Dennery Hospital. We are going to establish a Polyclinic there because Dennery is between Gros-Islet and Vieux-Fort. With accidents happening in the middle of the island, we can use this health facility to stabilize patients. And with an upgraded ambulance service, we will move them either to St. Jude's or Victoria Hospital.”
Accelerating the renovation of St. Judes Hospital, Mondesir says, is one of his ministry's top priorities for 2011.
In addition, human resource capacity building is at the forefront of the ministry's endeavours, with several doctors engaged in specialisation overseas, and nurses participating in learning exchange programmes in Cuba and Mexico. |
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