EQUIPMENT was last Thursday handed over to the Bustamante Hospital for Children as a donation from the Embassy of Japan, through a grant of US$117,176.

Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson, speaking during the official handover of the equipment, which was held at the hospital, said the initiative will go a far way in improving services.

“Our efforts to improve health care for the nation’s children will be enhanced through the donation of this equipment. Countries of the world made a commitment to improve the health of children by working towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 4, which requires a reduction of the infant and child mortality ratios by two-thirds by 2015,” Dr Ferguson said. “While we have made some progress, as a country, we continue to face challenges to achieve this goal and therefore have to continue to put systems in place to realise these objectives.”

According to a news release from the Ministry of Health, the money was used to purchase several pieces of equipment, including eight patient monitors, one esophagoscope, one mobile dental unit, one oscillator, six mobile blood pressure machines, one suction pump, one ventilator, and one binocular indirect ophthalmoscope.

The Bustamante Hospital for Children is the only specialist children’s hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean and provides a comprehensive range of diagnostic, preventative, curative, rehabilitative, and ambulatory services. The hospital sees approximately 77,000 patients per year.