A newly formed lobby group wants the Government to re-examine the plans that it has for the expansion of the Port Maria Hospital in St Mary.

While lauding the move to relocate the Port Maria Health Centre, which is on the hospital premises, the Port Maria Hospital Lobby Group wants the space that will be created to house new wards for the hospital, instead of a set of administrative buildings that is being proposed.

Another section of the property close to the hospital has been earmarked for new wards.

Community-based physician and surgeon Dr Lincoln Wright, speaking on behalf of the steering committee of the lobby group, said that the area upon which the health centre now sits would be far more beneficial to the hospital under its improvement plan, if wards were to be erected there.

The lobby group includes several other prominent citizens, among them Lady Allen, wife of the governor general, who is from St Mary; former parish manager of health for Portland and St Mary, Dr Isaac Brown; retired custos of St Mary, AA ”Bobby” Pottinger; funeral director Richard Mason; Anglican priest, Reverend Seymour Hutchinson, and businessman Henry Pryce.

“Over 40 years ago, the Port Maria Hospital was downgraded by the Jamaica Labour Party Government led by the now deceased Edward Seaga,” Dr Wright said. “It was perhaps, not a bad decision at the time, because the Annotto Bay Hospital, the other hospital in the parish, was structurally superior and could also serve the residents of Portland, since the Buff Bay Hospital was also downgraded.

“Ever since, the Port Maria Hospital Foundation, friends of the Port Maria Hospital and the citizenry of Port Maria and its environs, have fought to get the hospital upgraded. This is because it is located in the parish capital, it is a catalyst for development, because professionals and the ordinary citizens prefer to reside in a community where there is a proper hospital, and with the new expanded Ian Fleming Airport, it is even more critical for a proper functioning hospital to be located close to the airport.

“Eighty per cent of the road network of the parish leads directly to Port Maria, which is easily accessible. Not having a properly functioning hospital in Port Maria has created great inconvenience, as persons have to travel long distances to Annotto Bay and St Ann’s Bay, which oftentimes they cannot afford, and patients have died because they could not make those trips.

“One local hotelier said he does not know why we are inviting tourists to Jamaica, and the nation’s hospital services are lacking,” Dr Wright stated.

Dr Wright said that despite the best efforts of staff at Port Maria Hospital, the situation was at times grim.

“The present senior medical officer, Major Powell, is trying tirelessly with a skeleton staff of doctors and nurses to serve the community. This is just a drop in the bucket. They are being overwhelmed and overworked by the volume of patients at the hospital, which is severely short on hospital beds and wards. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Port Maria Hospital had occupancy of 300 per cent. It was so short of bed space and wards, so patients were on chairs and wherever they could ‘kotch.’

“Nowadays, some procedures have to be cancelled on days, as it is regular for one doctor to be on duty in the mornings.

“It was music to the ear to learn that some expansion work is to be done at the Port Maria Hospital. However, there is unease, as many of the folks in the parish, especially health workers and persons who are friends of the hospital and former members of the Hospital Restoration Committee, are not keen on the specific work.

“This is because the site for the proposed new ward is inappropriate, as it will be constructed in a very congested area, with poor access, poor ventilation and patients would be deprived of the natural beauty and the scenic view surrounding Port Maria Hospital.

“Years ago, the mound opposite the operating theatre, and where the previous major wards of the hospital were located, was again earmarked for the additional wards that were needed.

“Unfortunately, the health centre in Port Maria is located on a part of the land. It is very important to note that this centre was put on a concrete base and the building was kept in place by bolts and nuts – suggesting a temporary, if not unstable structure,” Dr Wright went on.

It is understood that the health centre will be moved to a plot of land that is the site of the old cholera cemetery.

“The wards can be built on the mound that now houses the health centre, and the health centre re-routed to the previously suggested location,” Dr Wright added.

The Port Maria Hospital Lobby Group, which also includes some former workers at Port Maria Hospital, and friends of Port Maria Hospital, is encouraged by the attempts to improve the hospital and lauds the efforts, but would prefer that such expansion be done only after dialogue at town hall meetings with the lobby group and other interested parties.