MONTEGO BAY, St James — Clinical coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority Dr Delroy Fray has declared that, despite the limitations of the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James, which is currently under
rehabilitation, the institution is capable of providing world-class services to breast cancer patients.

Dr Fray has also indicated that, in addition to breast cancer treatment, the hospital is also equipped to perform breast reconstruction for those who have no choice but to remove their breast.

“I will tell you, we have the facility at Cornwall that if the patient is so inclined, you know, the emotional aspect of losing your breast, we have plastic surgeons who can reconstruct the breast as well. In spite of what our limitations are, and we do have limitations, we try to work the best that we can to offer our patients the best service there is,” added Dr Fray as he addressed a Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry town hall meeting held at Montego Bay Cultural Centre last Friday.

Dr Fray said the hospital currently has two excellent radiation oncologists and a well-equipped radiation department.

But Dr Fray lamented the strain that trauma cases are putting on the facility.

“If you understand what trauma is about. These patients are multiple injury patients. They’re coming with a head injury, neck injury, lower spine injury, abdominal injury, [and] major limb trauma. That is something that burns your health budget and we were able to look after 1,223 [gunshot wounds and motor vehicle crash patients] during [January 1 to August 31],” said Dr Fray.

A breakdown of the figure shows that 135 gunshot wound victims visited Cornwall Regional Hospital during the eight-month period. In that time, 742 males and 346 females involved in motor vehicle crashes were also seen at the facility.

A wider look at the hospital’s workload indicator shows that between January 1 and August 31, 26,169 patients visited the Accident and Emergency Department compared to 23,655 over the same period last year.

In addition, 8,923 patients were admitted to the hospital’s wards in comparison to 8,582 for the same period last year.

Regarding major surgeries, 1,343 were performed during the eight-month period this year with 628 minor surgeries also performed. Data for the corresponding period last year was not available.

Dr Fray pointed out that several of the trauma cases require some amount of critical care and pointed out that measures are in place to manage bed space at the hospital.

“We have a container at the front that we refer to as our high-dependency unit. From time to time we can activate that to look after critical patients and, down at the Falmouth Hospital, we have three beds for critical care. Now, someone might say to me, ‘So what if you have six patients that need critical care?’ We would be able to… readjust ourselves to deal with it. But what if we need 10? This is where collaboration is important. We now have to look outside of the region and we would liaise with, mainly, the UHWI [University Hospital of the West Indies] team to see how they can help us in that way,” explained Dr Fray.

Cornwall Regional Hospital, which has been under rehabilitation for the past seven years, is a 10-storey, Type ‘A’ institution which was officially opened to the public on May 10, 1974.

At that time, the hospital located in Mt Salem was considered one of the most elaborate and sophisticated institutions of its kind in the world.