Oscar Joseph District Hospital to be upgraded

The Oscar Joseph District Hospital in Charity, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) is set to be upgraded to ensure the provision of efficient health care services to residents in the region.

This decision was made following a recent meeting between Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall MP and hospital staff.

“We keep hearing a lot of issues to delivery of our services and these issues are not limited to Region Two and Oscar Joseph hospital across the country and I think many of you have worked in the system so you may have worked many of these things before.

But for us as Government, we have a commitment that we have a covenant that we signed with people on election day. One of those covenants, is that we must enhance the services that we provide,” he said.

Among measures to implemented with the upgrade are staff training, improved record keeping, addressing drug shortages and enhancement works.

A view of the gathering

Minister Dharamlall said he hopes the facility would be able to provide 24- hour service. He said changes need to be made for the benefit of all, especially the attitude of the staff towards the patients.

“So, I think when people come into this hospital, they must feel like this is a place that they would like to be in, we should not want to be in hospital but when you come to the hospital, you must feel like I’m going to leave here healthy, so you can’t come into hospital, and people are your faces are crass, they do not speak or welcome you nicely.

If it’s one thing that this government will not tolerate is disrespect and we don’t care how superior you feel you are. We will not tolerate disrespect and disrespect goes both ways. People should not disrespect you and you should not disrespect them.”

Currently, four doctors and over 20 nurses are attached to the hospital.

Moving forward, the hospital is expected to broaden its reach via radio and television shows especially during the Covid pandemic.

Minister Dharamlall said this will allow the medical teams to educate persons on the importance of the vaccine, since the region’s vaccination rate has been stagnant for some time.