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(Left) Elvis Newton, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health |
ZIZ News…February 10, 2010 – The consultancy and proposal to successfully establish the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Joseph N France general hospital in St Kitts was not stimulated by any foreign influences.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr Elvis Newton was briefing health officials and personnel on the inception of the ten year old ICU, which to date has seen the movement of at least 1,000 patients.
Permanent Secretary Newton also spoke of the power of partnerships, which have ensured that the national health care delivery system has evolved to a stage, where stakeholders can boast of confidence.
According to the Health Permanent Secretary:
“The consultancy to establish this unit was a result of a collaboration and we needed the information that was generated by our local consultants. At this time I was not a Permanent Secretary but the Health Planner and I was charged with the responsibility of working with the hospital to ensure that the unit was established.
“We used the information that was generated by our local consultants to put together a project proposal which we submitted to the Taiwanese and at the time the Ambassador had agreed that we would receive the initial outlay of $200,000 US dollars to procure the pieces of equipment we had identified at the time.”
He says in terms of direct investment, the Government of Taiwan has injected one million US dollars to the St.Kitts-Nevis health sector.
While quoting statistics on the ICU department, he highlighted that over the last decade there has been a mortality rate of less than 20%.
The Intensive Care Unit at the Joseph N France general hospital is celebrating its 10th anniversary.