Hospital relying on charity for key equipment
A demonstration of an electroencephalogram (EEG) test at the HSA
(CNS): The Cayman Islands hospital has resumed EEG tests after a local family raised the necessary cash donation by running marathons. But CNS understands the hospital is still short of much-needed equipment. In particular, the Cayman Islands Cancer Society and the Breast Cancer Foundation are currently trying to raise half a million dollars to replace the aging mammogram machine, and North Side MLA Ezzard Miller is calling on government to use its budget surplus to pay for a new machine.
Miller said the hospital needs the important equipment now but it could take the charities a long time to raise this cash. He said the Cancer Society and other NGOs should be using the funds they raise to help people access treatment and other pressing areas of need.
“They should not have to be buying the equipment that a hospital needs to carry out its work. Government needs to step up and buy the machine,” he told CNS.
It is not unusual for charities, NGOs, non-profits and concerned citizens to raise money for specialist equipment or to help those in need. However, everyone in Cayman, by law, is supposed to have health insurance from their employers to cover their health needs and government injects millions every year into health. Nevertheless, the hospital is still short of fundamental equipment, indicating that the country’s health care system isn’t working.
Following the EEG donation, Health Services Authority CEO Lizzette Yearwood said the HSA was grateful to the Billes family, who helped to raise nearly all of the $18,000 needed to buy the medical equipment, which she said would help the hospital provide an improved service.
The EEG is a diagnostic test which records and detects abnormalities in the electrical activity of the brain. The new machine was received and installed on 10 January. The model purchased is a Neurovirtual BW11 EEG, which is a 25 channel, portable, computer-based machine convenient for use in the outpatient clinic area as well as on the inpatient units throughout the hospital.
It will be used in the investigation of patients of all age groups, from newborns to elderly patients, with seizures, head injuries, brain tumors or in other instances where brain function needs to be assessed.
Head of the Paediatric Department Dr Earl Robinson explained that the machine helps doctors observe and study brain wave patterns to pick up any abnormal brain activity that can help him diagnose underlying conditions and treat or manage them appropriately.
Category: Health, Medical Health
Cardiac syndrome X. If you are a woman keep reading.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women according to Harvard Health. Women far more likely to succumb to heart disease than to breast cancer. NINE times as likely, in fact. Discoveries from the WISE (Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation ) suggest that many women have a form of heart disease called coronary MICROVASCULAR dysfunction that isn’t detected by standard diagnostic procedures and thus goes unrecognized and untreated. The procedures used to diagnose and treat heart disease are based on research conducted only in men. Women had angioplasties and bypasses, but they didn’t do as well as their male counterparts. More of them suffered heart attacks or congestive heart failure after treatment. Even women whose coronary arteries were clear continued to develop and die from ischemic heart disease (IHD). By 2000, heart disease was claiming 60,000 more women than men every year.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/new-view-of-heart-disease-in-women
What does it have to do with the article? The cayman islands hospital is in need of functional vascular imaging equipment and specialists to check nduct the tests. more than it needs a new mammogram machine.
You would think the Cayman city doctors are aware of the cardiac syndrome X? It is appears they are entirely oriented on the male form of heart disease and doubt they approach to women’s heart problems differently. I have good reasons to say that. Even their leading doctors, as brilliant as they are, do not think outside the box.
It’s incredibly discouraging that a government ministry with a annual budget of $138,000,000 can’t manage their sizable slice of the pie, or anticipate the medical needs of the public, so that the HSA have become reliant upon private charity to fill the gaps. Are we going to vote these inept and unqualified kleptocrats back in? Are we willing to stake our family’s lives on their competency?
How is it equitable that the chronically underserved public blood bank is made to deplete their local donor blood stocks by giving them away to the for-profit private Shetty hospital for elective surgeries? Does that make sense to anyone? Shouldn’t GT Blood Bank be charging by the pint, or Shetty running their own paid blood bank in Eastern Districts?
If we just got away from expats and using their hospitals up north, then we would have the best in the world.
Thats Right stay out of Florida Hospitals your just a burden on my tax $$$ and a burden period ….stay in cayman and get the third world care you paid for
You are so right ‘A Caymaninan’ at 544a.
The Lincoln Town Car that they got rid of had less than 40,000 miles on it. How many of us can afford to get rid of a car with 30-something thousand miles? And while that car had been bought used for less than US$40,000, you are right that Queen Helen wanted a dashing Jaguaarr to be driven around in and lil boy Alden gave her what she wanted.
And mind you, just like Stuart Jack who wasn’t anybody until he came to Cayman, SHE don’t drive herself anywhere. Say what you like about Gov Taylor, he like the late, great Gov Russell, had his own lil car and drove himself round where he wanted to go on the weekends. Not this damsel.
And she had the nerve to say in her Christmas message: “I never fail to be impressed by the generosity of the Cayman Island people towards others, and this year is no exception. The scale and variety of your charitable and voluntary work has been truly extraordinary, and demonstrates the very special character of the people of these Islands.
This work has helped so many people in the Cayman Islands, for example, the Heart Fund has just presented the HSA with a brand new ambulance which will be of huge benefit to the community.”
She was quite content to get a Jaguar and let the community raise money to buy an ambulance. And she’s our “Governor”?
But Alden and his merry crew can afford to give her a Jag and chauffeur her 7 days a week but can’t afford to buy equipment for the hospital.
Interesting choice of fault for the lack of resources for the appropriate level of equipment and personnel to properly organize and provide high quality health care. The failure to enforce or collect on over $74 Million in unpaid heath bills would seem a more obvious place to start. The waste of over $26 Million in the inept or corrupt schools redevelopment could be another. The more than $1 Million in funds stolen by the Care Pay scandal. Another classic was going back a bit, over $250K in AC equipment shipped over to the Brac for the high school and left to rot in a field for a few years before being condemned and thrown away. $10 Million Island slush fund? There are lots of far better examples of loss of funds/failure to collect that mean all public services are far poorer than they should be. At least with the Jag we have something to show for the money.
3rd world hospitals in a ? country. The cause again goes back to another kind of corruption. Cayman kind- Don’t make a Caymanian pay his or her unhealthy life style. Put a 10% tax on fast food ans booze. Could buy a brand new hospital in 3 years.
And at the same time decrease taxes on fruit and vegetables
This story would not have been written, if the Government simply changed and policed the health insurance requirements.
Many employees have worthless insurance policies, which only provide cover in emergency situations and are not adequate enough to cover their health needs.
Many others here have no insurance at all, if you don’t believe me, ask yourself why there are always donation boxes in the shops asking for financial help to pay medical bills, ask the FOI commissioner to find out from the HSA just how many patients seek treatment but who have no insurance, ask how many payment plans they are currently funding, ask the various cancer organisations and charitable groups how many patients they are currently financially helping and how many requests for assistance they get each year?
It staggers belief that this is allowed to continue and I am puzzled why the richest country in the Caribbean is incapable of caring for its own citizens and policing its own immigration requirements….you might begin to think that someone somewhere is benefiting from this, but it sure as hell is not the HSA.
Maybe Ezzie can pay for it with his duty free allowance increases? Vote Mr. Ed 2017!
Idiot, Ezzard isn’t the minister, so don’t shoot the messenger.
More quackery.
Collect the outstanding bills. There should be adequate funds then. Put some debtors in jail or publish their names. Send a message.
They don’t have $500,000.00 for a mammogram machine but can allocate $750,000.00 for a NEW fire truck for the Brac instead of buying a used one for $50,000 after some fools destroyed the old one? Just to accomodate 1 international flight/week! You cannot make this stuff up!
WAIT PLEASE WAIT. First we have the deputy governor running to raise funds to buy an ambulance now we need donations to buy essential equipment at the hospital while this fool fool government is boasting a surplus? Ppm needs to be flogged they are dispicable and anyone who vote for them is worse than them. They should be a shame about some surplus, and as for Marco they made him into a different person
And don’t forget about Faith Hospital’s problems. Last year a family member of mine was in late night surgery – it was so hot in the surgical theater that they had to call in the maintenance man to turn on the AC unit. I was really pissed off about this – asked the maintenance man but he wouldn’t talk about it, just made me more pissed.
So in some follow up visits, I talked to other patients and visitors, many mentioned other problems.
1. Heard that Lab, Outpatient area and sterilising unit area all continually experienced problems with AC.
2. Surgical theater has two AC compressors, but one has been down for over a year.
3. No hot water in some Inpatient Rooms and in some areas of the Outpatient wing.
4. Oxygen cylinders just randomly being left outside by oxygen cage for patients to pick up and drop off as they please.
5. You could smell fuel odors near Pharmacy when the generators were running.
6. Various areas had roof leaks.
7. The hospital only has one full-time Maintenance staff member. It is understood that one other person is assigned to Maintenance but he actually works as a full-time porter, driver and supply clerk assistant.
I went to talk to the American guy who was temporarily filling in for our own local Bracker, Cameron, but he was an a** wouldn’t tell me a thing, f*** him damn foreigner covering up for the hospital.
Sad to see the hospital being left in such a run down condition. My own flesh and blood family helped build this place years ago and now you got to call in some damn foreign maintenance man to turn on the AC whenever surgeries are being done -LMFAO, but this is sad. I thought the CEO was from the Brac, but seems like she forgot that there is a hospital over here
Hold up, we got politicians running around doing squat and making six figures for doing absolutely nothing but run the country further into the ground. The cig bought a fancy car for the governor worth over 100k easy while the hospital is in need of important equipment. Equipment that cost a mere 18k while these politicians make six figures by running Cayman into the ground. You have got to be kidding me. This country is truly governed and run by some of the most ignorant and self centered people in the world. Cayman kind.
What happend to the MRI machine that was a gift that was rejected did it end up in the landfill
Can’t buy equipment for the hospital, but they have no problem paying 40 criminally charged civil servants. SMH
Don’t forget the cig hosting for Manny that homophobic brawler. They got time to support and fund someone who hates homosexuals and loves punching people in the face. This government is a joke and no one in their right mind can take them serious.