FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Despite extensive damage caused by Hurricane Melissa, approximately one-third of the bed capacity at the Falmouth Public General Hospital remains operational, as repair work continues across the facility.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton gave an update on the conditions at the hospital, during a tour of the facility on Saturday. He also met with administrative and clinical staff and assessed the scale of the destruction and the pace of recovery.

“Two-thirds of this bed capacity has been impacted. So it’s only operating on 57 beds of 140 or so. It is a constraint,” Tufton said.

“We have, luckily, what was the Covid ward, which was an added ward space after Covid, and that had some damage. They quickly repaired that and moved the A&E (accident and emergency) over into that facility where a lot of activities are taking place,” the minister added.

Among the severely impacted sections are the A7E which is undergoing major reconstruction.

“In this instance, there is a total roof removal of the A&E, which is right here behind me. So they’re going to be raising the roof a bit and slabbing that roof to avoid the potential of wind damage in the future. And that takes some doing. They have to reinforce the columns and so on,” Tufton shared, while noting that the dietary department was also badly affected.

“Dietary was damaged in terms of roof, so they’re going to be working on that,” he said, while stating that a temporary arrangement was now in place.

The health minister acknowledged that the reduced capacity is creating challenges for the parish but urged residents to make greater use of primary healthcare facilities.

“Again, I appeal to citizens in the parish of Trelawny to recognise the inconveniences. Again, I say go to your health centres for first stop, unless there’s an absolute emergency, because your health centres are up and running, even if they have issues with roofing and so on,” he said.

“But for emergencies, yes, the doctors are here, and they will treat with you,” he assured.

Tufton said his ministry was targeting March for full completion of ongoing repairs, though efforts are being made to speed up the process.

“The timelines remain March. We’re going to push the contractors to move faster, but in the meantime, it does create some inconvenience”.

-Horace Hines