With the high number of trauma cases seen each day at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, the independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmoreland Central, George Wright is calling for a radiologist and a neurosurgeon to be placed at the facility.

Wright made the call during his recent contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives.

He stated that the hospital sees the most trauma cases in Jamaica.

“Trauma caused by motor vehicle, bike accidents and criminal causalities, is the case almost every day. Yet still, there is not a radiologist and a neurosurgeon on call. Further to that, patients have to be transported to other locations because the hospital does not have a CT scan machine. Immediate, urgent care cannot be rendered in these life-threatening situations,” Wright noted.

He told the House that “We also need to look at physical therapy for patients (as) oftentimes the medical care given to patients was optimal and surgeries performed were successful, but the patients are not properly rehabilitated as there are only three physical therapists, but the need is greater than they provide to secure or optimize a more holistic outcome”.

Wright is also lobbying for a dialysis unit with renal specialists to be sited at the hospital. “I am making this call after consultations with doctors at the hospital. I continue to lobby on behalf of the overworked doctors and nurses as well as the frustrated residents for a sophisticated Intensive Care Unit that will upgrade the care of patients,” he pleaded.

Wright said some elderly patients have to travel outside of the parish, in particular to the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St. James to have such services rendered to them.

“The patients are having a challenging time because travel expenses and fees for care is a heavy burden,” he said.

And, he also made the case for the facility to be upgraded from a Type-B to a Type-A institution, arguing that it was the only government-owned hospital in the parish. He pointed out that patients from Hanover and as far away as St. Elizabeth are transferred and treated there.

“Additional wards are needed that will at least increase the in-patient capacity,” said the independent MP.