A CT Scan machine, which has not been functioning, at the Princess Margarete Hospital is now operational, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Johnson.
The last scan was done at the hospital on March 25, 2013.
Dr. Johnson said arrangements were made to have the machine repaired “within a space of time but it did not occur as soon as we would have liked to.”
“Clearly it was not something that we were too happy about, to have a CT Scan that has been operating for many years being down for that length of time,” he stated.
He pointed out that there were “certain things beyond our control…but that is now behind us.”
“We have our CT Scan functioning again and so our patients can now have the services of our CT Scan,” Dr. Johnson said.
In a release last month the Ministry of Health said the machine was not functional because of a faulty x-ray tube.
It said a request was made to Medika Inc. for the faulty part and an invoice made. The hospital received that invoice for the replacement part on April 5, 2013. “Payment for that replacement has been made and we have been informed by the company that the part was shipped to Dominica and will arrive in a few days,” the release, dated May 16, said.
I really need to win the lottery to help improve the healthcare services in my country Dominica!!
OK!!so we have the CT scan back. If someone has a serious problem in their body, that is revealed by the CT scam, is there proper medicine, or therapy in place to cure the situation? We could have hundreds of CT scans, if we don’t know how to cure, or help the patient, what’s the point.
We need CT scans, medicine, doctors, nurses, therapists, recovery rooms, beds, etc. to do a good job. Everything has to be in order for us to get great results in general health of a patient. I hope all of us will contribute to the Development of great health for our fellow Dominican’s, and visitors who get sick on our land. PLEASE LORD, HELP US TO GET THE FUNDS TO HELP OURSELVES AND OUR HUMAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
Let all of us play our part, large or small. Thanks!!
A SICK GOVERNMENT,lazy, uncaring AND incompetent. One the electorate needs to KICK OUT!
Mamogram doh working nuh mr jacKson, ct scan get blows it fix, doh forget to fix d rest for us before we dead as we reach
lol u mean to tell me one ct scan machine the country have hahahaha .LOL I Cannot imagine living in this country.lol.something has to be done about this poor medical care in this country.
American, keep on laughing. Remember we have fewer than 70,000 inhabitants. Does the U.S. public health service have one machine for every 70,000 of its people? Only when your answer is “yes” will you be qualified to talk.
u cannot imagine living here but if they plan to deport u from where ever u r where do u thing u r going to be shipped to…..its nt to heaven nor hell its bck to ur homeland so rephrase ur saying.
uhm, you know dominica actually ranks higher than america in heath care world wide right??
Ranking Country Expenditure Per Capita
1 France 4
2 Italy 11
3 San Marino 21
4 Andorra 23
5 Malta 37
6 Singapore 38
7 Spain 24
8 Oman 62
9 Austria 6
10 Japan 13
11 Norway 16
12 Portugal 27
13 Monaco 12
14 Greece 30
15 Iceland 14
16 Luxembourg 5
17 Netherlands 9
18 United Kingdom 26
19 Ireland 25
20 Switzerland 2
21 Belgium 15
22 Colombia 49
23 Sweden 7
24 Cyprus 39
25 Germany 3
26 Saudi Arabia 63
27 United Arab Emirates 35
28 Israel 19
29 Morocco 99
30 Canada 10
31 Finland 18
32 Australia 17
33 Chile 44
34 Argentina 15
35 Denmark 8
36 Dominica 70
37 Costa Rica 50
38 United States 1
Feeling stupid yet?
Please quote your source SIR!
alas allu doh shame in dominica…for there to be a headline news story saying CT Scan back in action? A thing that should be properly maintained by default? and have back up..by default? allu doh shame? zor pah hot?
almost 3 mnths later….well thank u….
Too little to late Massa Skerrit, what if timothy was not flown to martnique or we had bad weather and chalo could not fly out.
PMH should have at least two ct scans and one in Portsmouth
It sounds like a good idea. just wondering though. how many of us would be willing to pay the thousands required for medical care? we are quick to say what the country is lacking but not many of us are willing to pay the price for the services we require. simple operations in Dominica that we complain that we pay $5000 cost over $15000 in the US. you get charged for everything even the robe that you wear. We need more development but we also need to be responsibility that comes with it. We need to realise that we cannot afford everything in Dominica. It may be cheaper to access certain medical services outside instead of having all the equipment in country because with a larger client base the cost can be spread around. Even in the GREAT USA where alot of us want to go every hospital will not have all available equipment. Patients are often transferred to other hospitals to receive different services
So it working now finally? Good!
Now train a loacal to maintain and fix the damn thing get get the spares that will be needed on a frequent basis. All equipment manufacturers have a list of maintenance spare parts for machines.
Assertive, NOT Agressive!
PMH acquires these machines from the manufacturers and depending on the problem, only the technical team from the manufacturer is allowed to repair the machine. And very well so because this is people’s health we are dealing with, I would rather the manufacturer deal with the problem since it is their machine.
Why blame every thing on poor Skerro
Poor Skarro? Skerro not poor.
Thank you Doc for your response. Machines do break down and we do not manufacture the parts.
We Dominicans must understand that it is only in 2006 that we got CT Scan Services at the hospital. yet we criticize the government that provided the service in the first place when the machine breaks down.
We have memoire poule
Jude, the criticisms may be harsh but understandable. If you introduce a machine (or service) that does not work as it should it is worse than not having that machine or service at all, from a public perspective. What you are doing is raising expectations but do not deliver and if anything puts people’s backs up, it is that.
So jay if your car breaks down and it takes a month to get the replacement part then you should criticize yourself harshly for the car breaking down.
Jude,
– my car is not in public ownership or used to serve the tax payer. However, I do contribute to the treasury through my tax payments on it (incl. duty & vat upon importation) and if it breaks down I only inconvenience myself.
– if my dealer does not have the necessary part I always have the option to order it myself direct from abroad. I do not have to pre-pay like the Govt. but can use my credit card.
You are comparing apples with oranges.
Corecction, the ct scan service was made by a private american benefactor to the PEOPLE of Dominica. The government had no part to play in that. For that matter, they may have even tried to resist it’s acceptance
Well PAY all you BILLS in the hospital too upkeep the place. All you buying all phone for 2 grand.
I agree.
Well said. then we complain the services are not good enough.
may be the proverbial we should start an account and donate moneies to the purchase of a new CT scan…
start the ball rolling so that the poor malaywe that can’t afford to go to “foreighn” for treatment can benefit from a DONATED CT Scan.
Where are the diaspora with big mouth when ACTIONS need to be taken instead of words?
I’ll start the donations….
Based on the release, dated May 16, it took 34 days for the replacement faulty x-ray tubepart to come to Dominica (June, 18). Of interest we observe that the hospital received that invoice for the replacement part on April 5, 2013. We further note that the May 16th release stated that “Payment for that replacement has been made and we have been informed by the company that the part was shipped to Dominica and will arrive in a few days”. What was the delay in arriving??? Who is held accountable for that delay in arriving? How will we avoid circumstances like these happening again in the future??
Well Dr in case you did not figure that out, there should not be one CT scan in the only secondary care hospital in country. Secondly, money is spent on all none sense activity….village feast, useless buildings and on travel for Ministers, plus there high phone bills. and not enough focus on essentials. Dr I am not shooting the messenger nuh. but it is necessary to make that statement
What about having more than one macines….is it that difficult for the government to do….
A seond machine would be nice, of course but also a bit of a luxury.If we look at OECD statistics (2010), which measure ct units/per 1 million population we* would rank at the same level as Poland 14.3, lower than a very developed country like Denmark at 27.6 but still better than the U.K., which has a rating of 8.2 (this does not include machines in private practice, however). The problem arises when our single machinme is out of service but otherwise I think we can cope at present.
* Calculations based on a population for Dominica of 70,000, which I believe is generous.
This is how You maintain Democracy,You ride the Authorities and keep them inline.In a Dictatorship you are ignored or possibly killed in extreme dictatorships.
Remember :”The People are too free,Madame Speaker they are too free,I tell You Madame Speaker they are too free!”
So Ct Scan back in action? then say it was rumor when we say they were not working. Aha.
So much for medical care in DA. It is obviously not a priority with this govt. They get shipped elsewhere for medical care.
I’m pleased and relieved that our diagnostic service is fully operational again. However, it is revealing that apparently we do not enjoy a credit line with Medika Inc, the suppliers of spares and must pay in advance. This obviously leads to delays, which could be life-threatening in the case of emergencies.Is it because the Govt., has no credit or the health service itself? I hope we can remedy this siuation so that spares/assistance can be rendered in future withou delay.
The Skerrit Labor Government is prepared to get loans for anything that is infrastructural. It is most important that another CT Scan is ordered and placed at the Portsmouth Hospital as a backup.