PATIENTS requiring endoscopy services will have a one-stop shop next January when a $70-million endoscopy unit opens its doors.
Endoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure where an instrument is used to look inside the human body for medical reasons.

Dr Dennis Pines, consultant general, thoracic and vascular surgeon and one of the main shareholders in the development, told the Observer that the unit - which will be called the Endoscopy Diagnostic Associates - will be the only one of its kind in Jamaica that offers all the facets of endoscopy under one roof.

"This is a very unique situation, in that it will be a centre of excellence in which we provide endoscopy services of a wide nature to Jamaica...," Pines said.
The unit will be housed in a wing of the National Chest Hospital in Kingston that has been out of use for years.

Pines said a 20-year renewable lease arrangement had been secured with the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) for the unit, which will operate independent of the hospital.

Patients will be mainly dealt with on an out- patient basis.
They have also partnered with the government, in that, 20 per cent of the patients will be public patients, and the doctors will forgo their professional fees in that respect. These patients will be seen twice weekly.
The development is being funded through a loan from the National Development Bank, through the National Commercial Bank (NCB). There are 10 shareholders, five of whom are doctors.

Meanwhile, the stakeholders have already purchased at least $15-million worth of equipment to outfit the facility. They are currently being stored until the construction is completed.

Leslie Mae, who is in charge of the development, told the Observer that the 13,250 square-metre facility will house five doctors' offices and another office for visiting doctors, 20 rooms, two scope (operating) rooms, five patient-changing rooms, a nursing station and an administrative area. He said the first phase of the project, which involves a complete rehabilitation of the wing, is estimated to cost about $35 million. Work on the wing started a year ago, and about $5 million has already been pumped into the project.
Pines said at least 24 patients would be seen on a daily basis, not counting emergencies.

In addition, Pines said the endoscopy unit was expected to also boost health tourism in Jamaica. "We hope that it will not only attract Jamaicans who would have gone abroad to get endoscopic procedures done, but also boost health tourism."

According to Pines, the services to be provided will include GI (gastrointestinal) services, primarily gastroscopy and ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopan-creatography), where a gastroscope is used to look down into the osophagus and into the stomach, to examine ulcers, for example.

He said this procedure may also be used "to conduct a colonoscopy, which is probably the most important exam that everyone over the age of 50 must have," particularly if they have a family history of colon cancer or erectile disease or polyps.

Additionally, Pines said other services that will be provided by the unit include broncoscopy, which is used to examine the respiratory tract, and fluoroscopy, "where we look into the pleurae (a layer that protects the lungs) with a light".

The unit will also offer Thoracoscopy, which is the procedure used to examine the chest, and gynaecology services.
"There are some other services that we will bring as time goes on, such as the procedure known as virtual small bowel examination... in which you swallow a video camera and it takes a picture of the small bowels on the way down and you process it later on," Pines said, adding that this was a procedure "of choice in investigating any small bowels pathology, and it has been very good in picking up early AIDS".

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