DR Trevor McCartney, clinical head of the University Hospital of the West Indies, says that after over a month of functioning with less than its full complement of operating theatres, all seven are now up and running.

“…On the 17th of April we had a breakdown of a compressor which serviced the main operating theatre at the University Hospital. therefore we had to close down three of the operating theatres while we sought to repair (that) compressor,” McCartney said.

He added that while the repairs were being done, the hospital continued to offer services in two of the five original theatres which were serviced by a smaller compressor.

“So four operating theatres were operating during that period,” McCartney said.

Just recently, leader of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party told a political rally that only two of the hospital’s operating theatres were in service.

McCartney, who acknowledged that there was a problem, said that in mid-May a problem developed with the condenser in the hospital’s operating theatre system and five of the operating theatres had to be taken out of commission.

“We had a problem where the entire operating theatre suite, that is the original five, was out of commission but we continued to use operating theatres six and seven for emergency services,” McCartney said.

He said that by May 28 all seven operating theatres became functional again.

“We began to offer elective listing in all operating theatres and they continue to function normally to date,” the UHWI clinical head told the Observer.

In the meantime, he said the hospital was working to clear a backlog of cases which developed over the period.

“You must realise if you are out of commission for a month or three weeks you are going to have a backlog. We have been putting on additional operating theatre sessions to address the backlog in the next month,” McCartney said.

The relevant surgeons, he said, have been prioritising the cases to determine which should be dealt with first.

“Each case is assessed separately and if it is thought that the patient has a problem that requires early, but not necessarily urgent intervention, then the case with urgent intervention will take priority and all efforts will be made to facilitate the early case as soon as is humanly possible,” McCartney told the Observer.