FROM THIS WEEK, the elderly abandoned at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) will be removed, promises Minister of Health Donville Inniss.
The Ministry of Health will be taking an aggressive approach with this “troubling phenomenon”, Inniss said yesterday after a service at St Paul’s Anglican Church marking the start of the Geriatric Hospital’s Senior Citizens Week.
“The elderly – and even some young people – are abandoned at the Accident & Emergency Department (A&E) and on the wards, upon completion of their medical treatment,” the minister lamented, “causing immense pressure, as needed bed space is being occupied by the forsaken.” Added Inniss: “Barbadians can look forward to a little bit more tough love coming from the Ministry of Health as we tackle this matter. It cannot continue.” He explained that his ministry was engaging other social agencies, including the Ministry of Family and the Ministry of Social Care, to get the abandoned back into their homes, or transferred to private nursing homes or Government district hospitals; but he was not happy with the pace at which this had been going.
“So, with effect from this week,” Inniss declared, “we will be taking a little bit more aggressive approach to not only moving those who have been discharged out of the QEH but also to avoiding a build-upof such again.”
