Love, kindness and comfort given by nurses and doctors highlighted by PM Douglas

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas delivers Christmas message to patients, doctors and nurses at the Mary Charles Hospital in Molineux.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, DECEMBER 19TH 2012 (CUOPM) – Patients at the Mary Charles Hospital in Molineux have been urged not to take for granted the love, kindness and comfort they get from health professionals and workers at the institution.

“I want every patient at Mary Charles to see in each doctor and nurse and worker, a reminder of the caring and love that Christmas reminds us should always be in our hearts. And I want every patient to be comforted and lifted up by the thought. And to each worker and nurse and doctor, moving throughout this building, keeping it clean, maintaining proper records, easing pain and bringing hope to others, I want to thank you for keeping the spirit of Christmas alive all year long because that is what, in fact, you do,” said Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas during the annual Christmas Programme.

Christmas he pointed out holds a special place in their hearts because the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, over 2,000 years ago, gave the world new hope and new faith.

“The Christ Child, born in a humble manger, as we know, grew up to stress to the world the importance of love. And there are few places where man’s selfless love for his fellow man is more obvious, and more clear, than in hospitals and health centres,” Dr. Douglas told patients, doctors, nurses, administrative staff and health ministry officials.

He pointed out that the younger patients at Mary Charles and the younger employees at Mary Charles may know him only as Prime Minister.

“But the older patients and the older employees know that long before I became Prime Minister, I was a doctor working all throughout St. Kitts caring for the sick, just as the doctors and the nurses and the workers here at Mary Charles care for you, patients, day after day after day. And, when you think about it, you have to admit that people who spend their lives taking care of people they do not know, comforting those to whom they are not related, working to bring back to health complete strangers, are doing exactly what the Christ Child, as an adult, asked everyone to do – to love each other, and to care for each other. This was the message of his birth, this was the message of his life, and this is the meaning of Christmas. Not the gifts, not the carnival, not the things that money can buy – but the caring, the concern, and the kindnesses,” said the St. Kitts and Nevis leader.

The ceremony, an annual event was chaired by Dr. Garfield Alexander and remarks given by Minister of Health, the Hon. Marcella Liburd and Parliamentary Representative, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris.