PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller on Wednesday commissioned into service radiology equipment valued at $8.8 million at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), as part of government initiatives to modernise the island’s public health centres.

The equipment, which included two x-ray machines (one portable), a 40-slice CT scanner and two ultra-sound console units, will enable the hospital to conduct its own imaging tests.

“This is the largest investment in this area ever to be undertaken in the country,” Simpson Miller declared on Wednesday.

According to the prime minister, the new devices at KPH form part of a two-year US$12.8 million project that government has undertaken to provide 53 pieces of radiology equipment to hospitals islandwide. The project is funded by the National Health Fund.

She said she was pleased with the progress of the project.

“We have made encouraging advances in the upgrading of radiology services in public hospitals,” she said, adding that an MRI unit will be installed at the KPH within the next two months.

Meanwhile chief executive officer at KPH, Donald Farquharson, expressed pleasure that the hospital, which he said sees more than 120,000 patients annually, will now be able to conduct in-house tests rather than referring patients elsewhere – a practice which he said can be risky.

“This equipment will improve the quality and access to health care at the hospital,” he said.

The hospital’s senior medical officer, Dr Patrick Bhoorasingh, agreed.

“Patients who were being admitted to KPH, Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) and other institutions had to stop at the University Hospital of the West Indies to obtain the imaging before being taken to these institutions,” Dr Bhoorasingh said. “This movement of patients between KPH, VJH and others puts the patients at greater risk of complications and even of dying. It also places a great strain on the staff and transport facilities at the KPH and VJH.”

The equipment, he explained, will allow staff to be able to see more clearly into the body cavity, which will assist them in deciding whether to operate or do minimal invasion surgery.

Meantime, Prime Minister Simpson Miller joined Health Minister Horace Dalley’s appeal to health workers to be more compassionate when dealing with those patients who are less fortunate.

“Please, in the name of God, treat the most vulnerable among us with love and care and respect. When you see somebody poor and not looking very clean. rush to them and ask ‘can I help you’ in the same way you would have done us’.”