The Sir Lester Bird Medical Center is currently facing several operational challenges, which are being addressed by the Ministry of Health.

The Medical Director reported to the Cabinet that there is a high influx of patients at the center, which is causing a need to divide patients into Urgent Care and Emergency Care.

The center employs 35 medical practitioners, 14 consultants, 12 interns, and 6 student interns, but there is a shortage of nurses.

The Emergency Room is staffed with 19 physicians and 3 nurses, but it is perpetually busy he said, particularly during peak hours from 5 am to 7 pm.

To address this, the IT department proposes an electronic system to count the number of persons using the ER daily.

The hospital is also facing challenges with the air conditioning system, with 20 empty bottles of Freon discovered during an inspection by the Minister and the new manager of the hospital’s maintenance.

Until the central unit is either repaired or replaced, 30 individual units have been installed in critical places in the hospital.

The hospital has purchased a 50-ton chiller for the Operating Theatres, which produces cold water critical for cooling the air that enters the theatres.

The Cabinet learned that continuous training of nurses and other personnel takes place at the SLBMC.

Customer service training is crucial for those who interact with the public. Most out-patients are eager to see a doctor, but several steps are required before that happens, including patient registration and triage to determine the urgency of care required.

Finally, the hospital has an annual budget of $75 million, but it requires a little more than $100 million to meet all its needs.

However, its pricing structure does not allow for it to meet its needs, as children under sixteen and adults older than sixty are exempt from payment.

To address the shortage of nurses, the UWI Five Islands Campus Nursing program is training a new cadre of nurses each year who will find employment at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center.