KINGSTON, Jamaica – The South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) says it has been working assiduously in conjunction with the Ministry of Health to develop the cardiac programme at the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC) to meet the demands of the population.

The health authority outlined a number of steps taken to aid in the development of the hospital in a release today. 

The remainder of the release in full:

In 2009, the Region employed a full time Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon, which allowed for surgeries to be done on a weekly basis. Two hundred and sixty (260) cardiac surgeries have been done at BHC from 2009 to 2014. Prior to 2009, cardiothoracic services were mainly based at the University Hospital of the West Indies, with the surgeons sharing their skills and expertise in the management of children at the BHC.

Approximately 60 per cent of the presented cases receive surgery each year. This encompasses emergency and elective surgeries.

Nevertheless, the Region acknowledges that there are gaps in terms of meeting the demands for surgeries and we have partnered with stakeholders to strengthen the hospital’s capacity to decrease the backlog. Over the period we have seen a significant decrease in the backlog.

Since 2001, medical teams from overseas have been visiting the Bustamante Hospital for Children to perform cardiac surgery in collaboration with our local team. Over the years the number of cardiac missions has increased. Currently, five cardiac teams visit the BHC, twice per year including Chain of Hope UK as well as Caribbean Heart Menders Association (CHMA), Congenital Heart Institute of Florida (CHIF), The Cardiac Kids Foundation of Florida (CKF) and the Jamaica Children’s Heart Fund (JCHF) all based in the United States.

The missions also provide practical on the job training, mentoring and the imparting knowledge and expertise.

The Region has placed high priority on the completion of the cardiac building, however, it must be noted that the responsibility for the construction of the Cardiac Centre rest solely with the stakeholders, with the Digicel Foundation being the lead stakeholder.

Unfortunately, there have been some delays in bringing the project to a close. The building is currently 70 per cent complete and an audit conducted by SERHA’s Project Team has indicated an estimated $104 Million to complete the building as well as to fund some aspects of furnishing and equipment for the Cardiac Centre. The National Health Fund has committed to providing the necessary funding and work is slated to commence in another two weeks. As such, the building is expected to be completed by December 31, 2015.

On completion, this building is expected to add a further 10 ICU spaces to the institution. Since July 2015, on recognising the urgent need for ICU spaces, SERHA has outfitted four additional ICU bed spaces until the building is completed.

SERHA remains committed to working assiduously to ensure that the project is completed in a timely manner for the benefit of the cardiac patients.

SERHA and the hospital administration have always stopped at nothing to ensure that emergency cardiac cases are given priority for ICU beds.

Medical consultants have the unbridled freedom to prioritise patients for emergency surgery, and the Regional Health Authority would expect that emergency patients are given priority over elective patients.

To date no reports have been submitted to the Region that indicates that cardiac patients awaiting surgery are dying due to lack of surgery. Nonetheless, the Region is committed to the well-being of all our patients and so an audit of the Cardiac Services at BHC will commence immediately in order to identify any deficiencies and ensure corrective actions are taken.

SERHA is committed to provide quality care and ensure the continuous improvement of all services.