ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) — Minister of Health, Dr Christopher Tufton, says four operating theatres at the Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny, are now ready to facilitate patients who have been relocated from the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay.

During a tour of the facility on Wednesday, Dr Tufton said preparations are now complete and doctors should be able to perform surgeries from as early as the coming week.

The minister said he is happy with all the hard work that has been put into ensuring that the needs of patients are being accommodated with the minimum of inconvenience.

“The Falmouth Hospital is now equipped to deal with its usual flow of traffic plus the patients we have coming in from the Cornwall Regional,” he added.

Dr Tufton also toured the Falmouth Infirmary, where some 35 patients were transferred from the Cornwall Regional.

“These are patients that would fall under the social services programme. They are what you would call residents of the hospital who, basically, have been left behind by relatives and have nowhere to go,” he said.

The minister said that from a humanitarian standpoint the Government has a responsibility to these patients who have been living at the Cornwall Regional on the outpatient wards.

 “What we are looking at is a permanent home for them here at the infirmary. Clearly, this is a well-kept and well-run facility, where they should easily make the transition. This is another example of opportunities being created from a crisis,” Dr Tufton said.

The minister, who ended the day with a tour of the Cornwall Regional Hospital, said that all the outpatient clinics have now been relocated, including the psychiatric clinic at the Holy Trinity Church and Gynaecology services at the Barnett Clinic.

The relocation exercise is due to a nagging problem of noxious fumes emanating from an old ventilation system at Cornwall Regional.

The ministry has appointed a technical team to address the problem and is receiving support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).