Healthcare professionals chronicle list of ills that Sir Molwyn needs to address at the hospital before delivering ‘AI tools’

A just-signed MOU between China and Antigua and Barbuda is
promising that medical tools powered by artificial intelligence will
be made available to local doctors, and that a framework for
identifying chronic diseases will be implemented.

The announcement has been greeted with caustic criticism by
suffering residents. They are asking why Sir Molwyn is not making
efforts to correct and improve the condition of the public-health
system, especially the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre.

Insiders have confirmed to REAL News that, up to last week, the
hospital’s four operating theatres were out of service – due to mold
and ventilation issues – and that a single operating room has been
created from another space.

Accordingly, no elective surgeries are being performed as there is
room only for emergency cases. This has meant that “urgent
patients must become ‘emergencies’ before they are operated on,”
the insiders complain, noting that this is “a very dangerous policy.”
They also point to the number of persons – more than 500, they say
– who are waiting for cataract surgeries.

None of these can be carried out because of the closure of the
operating theatres, the sources tell REAL News; and they fear that
these rooms will be down for another four months, at least, to
accommodate repairs.

The sources add that there is concern among both in-house doctors
and outside practitioners about space at the hospital. They note that
critical patients are being kept for far too long in the Emergency
Room (ER), owing to the shortage of beds on the wards.

One physician points out that there are no sanitary facilities in the
ER, either – which means that these patients are unable to shower
or maintain proper hygiene.

But their greatest fear is that these persons are being discharged too
early – since there is no ward space available. In too many instances,
they say, the patients’ condition worsens. Then they are either
rushed back to the hospital in dire straits or they die at home.
Reportedly, the hospital is facing a number of lawsuits arising from
such situations.

Meanwhile, understaffing of the single public facility is reaching the
“chronic” stage, the insiders say. They report that most shifts are
undermanned, since many nurses have left for employment abroad,
and many of the seasoned doctors have left for private practice.

Sir Molwyn would be better off looking into these problems that
“affect the people on the basic level,” a doctor says, “than looking to
introduce advanced technology that the hospital cannot handle.”

Not even the hospital’s air-conditioning system is working, the
angry doctor points out; and this has caused some departments to
operate during the morning hours only.

In addition to the shortage of sterile supplies and drugs at the
hospital – and across the few community clinics that remain open –
critics also point to the incomplete Dialysis Centre on the Holberton
compound as failures that Sir Molwyn needs to address.

“Tell him to come tell us who the Cancer Centre was sold to and how
it will be operated,” a patient struggling with that disease tells REAL
News. “That ah whah arwe really want fuh hear.”