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| Dominica first ICU compliments Cuba | |
ROSEAU, Dominica, November 15, 2006 - Dominica is getting its first Intensive Care Unit at the Princess Margaret Hospital compliments of the Fidel Castro Administration. It comes at the same time that Cuba has provided scholarships to 85 Vincentians to pursue their BSc in nursing.
"The opening of this Intensive Care Unit is a noteworthy step forward in the provision of health care in Dominica. The establishment of an Intensive Care Unit represents only part of the gradual transition of this Hospital from a secondary care institution to a facility with tertiary care functions. Over the last five years other aspects of this transition have been brought to fruition, namely the introduction of orthopaedic surgery as a sub-specialty, the improvement of medical imaging services through the acquisition of CT Scan modalities and more recently the commissioning of a hyperbaric chamber with onsite oxygen production capabilities, thus reducing our reliance on oxygen from external sources," said acting Hospital Medical Director, Dr. Curvin Ferreira.
According to the Acting Hospital Medical Director, the idea to establish an ICU was born about two years ago. Dr Ferreira added that the discussion was brought about due to a number of reasons, namely: "the ever-increasing demand from the Dominican public for higher end technologies to become more available at the PMH; the need to transfer patients frequently to the neighbouring islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Barbados for critical care at huge cost and the increasing number of visitors to Dominica who frequently need those services".
The establishment of the Intensive Care Unit is a collaborative effort between the Government of the Republic of Cuba which has contributed just over $330,000 and the Government of Dominica which has contributed $45,000. The sum of $500,000 has been budgeted to meet the annual recurrent costs of the facility.
The Government of Cuba is also providing support in the form of equipment, doctors, nurses and training in the operation of Dominica's first Intensive Care Unit.
The establishment of an Intensive Care Unit , largely financed by the Government of Cuba comes hot on the heels of the opening of a state-of-the-art Cuban -funded Diagnostic Centre in Portsmouth in August this year.
In its sister country, St Vincent and the Grenadines, 85 students flew to Cuba this past week to start the first leg of training in nursing. Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that this was part of a wider Caribbean programme conceptualised by Cuba to address the nursing shortage in the region.
In addition, Cuba will also be funding the construction of a medical clinic at Georgetown, located on the east coast of the St Vincent or about two hours from the capital Kingstown where the main hospital is located. The clinic will house the country second dialysis centre.
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