SPALDING, CLARENDON — A donation of critical equipment valued at $60 million and plans to digitise the medical records of patients have provided a well-needed shot in the arm for the Type C Percy Junor Hospital located on the border of Manchester and Clarendon which also serves people in parts of south St Ann and south Trelawny.

The donation was made to the hospital last Friday by Diaspora group Right Now For Jamaica, which has adopted the facility.

President of Right Now For Jamaica Dr Maurice Miles said the organisation was formed in the aftermath of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica last October, to raise funds to assist facilities in the country.

“A group of us decided that we wanted to do something… We wanted to be very specific and detailed. I called Ambassador [Audrey] Marks [Member of Parliament for Manchester North Eastern] and asked how we can help and she said that we need help in Jamaica, specifically, at the hospital. It turns out we are heavy on health and education. In November we took our first trip and assessed the hospital,” said Mills.

Three of four containers donated by Right Now For Jamaica are located at the Percy Junor Hospital (Kasey Williams)

“We decided to not just give gloves and gauze but rather to see what the hospital needs to give better care to function,” Miles added.

In welcoming the donation Marks said the gift of four containers filled with equipment including ventilators, automatic external defibrillators, hospital beds, IV poles, and recliners is the second handing over of well-needed supplies to the hospital by Right Now For Jamaica.

“When we invest in Percy Junor Hospital we are strengthening a critical part of the health-care network [that is] serving hundreds of thousands Jamaicans across central Jamaica. The first handover in January brought 15 computers, tablets, medical supplies, furniture and other essential items. At that time we identified some of the larger clinical equipment that you wanted to secure, including ventilators,” said Marks.

She announced that the group has also committed $30 million towards an outpatient clinic on the hospital grounds by converting the containers now storing the donated equipment.

“The proposed facility is designed to include eight fully equipped examination rooms, a triage capacity, procedural and surgical care, office space and patient recovery bays supporting primary care, paediatric services, surgical procedures and specialist consultations,” said Marks who pointed out that an off-the-national grid power supply and independent water infrastructure are included in the proposed project.

Member of Parliament for Manchester North Eastern, Ambassador Audrey Marks in discussion with president of United States-based Diaspora organisation Right Now For Jamaica (RNFJ), Dr Maurice Miles, during the handover of medical equipment to the Percy Junor Hospital on Friday. Photo: JIS

“The computers and tablets that are already provided through the partnership can support electronic medical records and an even more modern approach to patient care,” Marks added.

That position was endorsed by senior medical officer at the facility Dr Carlos Wilson who told the Jamaica Observer that efforts are well underway to have patients’ records digitised.

“We are going to work as fast as we can. We have to work within what we are able to produce locally and then we have to coordinate that with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, so it is difficult to give a definitive timeline. But certainly, what I am hoping is that we will have something up and running here at Percy Junor that we can start using in three months,” said Wilson as he pointed to the significance of efficiency of the hospital through digitisation.

“The importance of medical records being electronic [allows] it to be easy to retrieve and it gives critical information that you need to make very urgent decisions, so it will improve the health care of the patients we serve,” added Wilson, who noted that the hospital sees upwards of 30,000 patients yearly in its Accident and Emergency Department.