By Alicia Chemely
UNHEALTHY lifestyles are partly to blame for Tobago’s Scarborough General Hospital going into “Emergency Mode.”
On Tuesday night, the Tobago Regional Health Authority issued a statement declaring that the Scarborough General Hospital had become overwhelmed and had entered “Emergency Mode,” addressing only life-threatening cases and cancelling all elective procedures.
The statement said as of Tuesday night the medical ward was at capacity at 33 patients, and its surgical ward was at 33. At the time, 13 patients were still awaiting admission in the A&E.
Speaking on i95.5 FM radio on Wednesday morning, Tobago Secretary of Health Faith Yisrael said the overflow of the Scarborough hospital was linked to an unhealthy population, as well as an aging one.
Yisrael said this was not an overnight problem, but one that had been developing for some time.
She said one of the greatest issues being faced by the healthcare system in Tobago was the influx of noncommunicable diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Yisrael said, “So, this is something that’s been happening for a little bit. I think because it’s more of a long-term situation where we kind of just have a population that is unhealthy, or not as healthy as we used to be. So therefore, the things that would have normally taken you a day or two and you would get back to normal. It’s now taking three or four or five days to get back to that because our baseline I think is a little bit unwell.”
She added, “I think we need to take stock, because quite a bit of the things that are causing us to be unhealthy are lifestyle issues. I will say our greatest causes of harm are diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks. Now, we get kidney failure, merely because of the diabetes and the blood pressure, the heart attack and all of these things.”
Yisrael said she was calling on Tobagonians to “take stock” of their health and life choices.
She said, “That is what we need to be doing and to recognise. We need to take stock. That would be a longer-term solution, but for now the health system is trying to deal with what we have at hand.”
Yisrael said the RHA was currently looking at adding to its bedspace at the Scarborough hospital.
Regarding the operations of the hospital over the next 48 hours, she said there would be movement between healthcare facilities to clear space for emergencies.
She asked citizens to refrain from running to the A&E unless it is an emergency.
Yisrael said, “If you know you have a situation that you can get a health centre for, go to the health centre, don’t run up to A&E and overwhelm A&E. We have regular health centres. We have enhanced centres like Canaan, Bacolet and you can do enhanced services at the Roxborough Hospital as well. So just don’t run up to A&E.”
