A plan to transfer more than 24 patients abandoned by their families at the 60-year-old Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland to a neighbouring infirmary has been on ice for several months now due to technical challenges which surfaced at the last minute, according to Chief Executive Officer Camille Lewin.

The 190-bed hospital, which straddles the communities of Negril and Whitehouse, and serves all parishes in the county of Cornwall, except Trelawny, has been the subject of several media reports focusing on overcrowding there which has been exacerbated by the presence of social patients, some whom were discharged as far back as 2008.

“We have been trying with the infirmary next door to sort of take them from us. But from July we had in place plans to send over 10; that fell through. We were given a number of things to do which we did, but they are still there. We are not daunted; we are trying other avenues to get them out,” Lewin told the
Jamaica Observer last week.

“What happened is, we were supposed to buy furniture; we bought the beds and lockers and we were supposed to get them vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, all of that was done, but the morning when they were supposed to go across we were asked to stand down because there were some technical issues on their end to work out,” Lewin explained.

She said the hospital is in discussion with the leadership of the infirmary to see how quickly those difficulties can be resolved.

At the time Lewin spoke to the
Observer she had said the number of social patients totalled 29. But the number would no doubt increase.

“I guarantee you, by the end of this day [there will be more] because it goes up in twos. As soon as you get one out, two more come in,” the CEO said.

Lewin told the
Observer that included in the current cohort were six patients who had been dropped off by relatives last December. She said those relatives have disappeared.

She also said that in addition to relatives disappearing after dropping off patients, their homes have also vanished.

“Eventually, when the social workers go to where they lived, relatives had already pulled down the houses. So they [patients] have nowhere to go,” Lewin said.

Providing a profile of the abandoned patients, Lewin said they “were mostly males” ranging in age from 32 upwards.

“We have a few who are bedridden, we have schizophrenics, we have persons who just come and decided they are not going back home,” she told the
Observer.

She said in the meantime the hospital’s social worker has been working “assiduously” to get them rehabilitated.

“It’s taking some effort,” she said.

In the meantime, Lewin said the hospital has banked on the generosity of the others to supply the needs of the abandoned patients.

“We rely on sponsorships; from time to time we get donations. We have to provide them with everything
— diapers, clothing, you name it. The fact is, we can’t put them out, because that would cause another problem,” Lewin said.

Currently, the facility is the only Type B hospital in western Jamaica. It provides a comprehensive range of medical, surgical, diagnostic, rehabilitative, and therapeutic services with a team of some 410 medical, administrative, and support staff.

The hospital is one of the three entities that will benefit from this year’s Sigma Corporate 5K run scheduled for February 18.