By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

EMERGENCY services throughout the country will undergo “major changes very soon,” according to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, who once again decried the “horrible realities” of the public health care system.

Speaking to reporters before a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Dr Sands said the improvements include completely renovating the Emergency department at Princess Margaret Hospital, the redeployment of staff, new modern equipment and the creation of satellite urgent care centres at the South Beach and Elizabeth Estates Clinics.

Initially, he said, the cost was expected to be around $2 million, however Dr Sands said because “the needs are so great,” that cost has rocketed to $5m.

“We have to do things differently if we are going to impact the horrible health realities of the Bahamas,” Dr Sands said.

“The major project that is underway is the redevelopment of emergency services throughout the Bahamas, that includes renovations, redeployment of staff, new equipment at PMH and the simultaneous creation of satellite urgent care centres at South Beach and Elizabeth Estates and then also tying in emergency care evacuation and transportation and other services throughout the Bahamas,” Dr Sands said.

“We have identified a working team. The architects are already engaged, we are doing the costing and this is a major approach to relieving a vexing problem.

“Looking at numbers, they keep going up. We wanted to keep it at less than $2m and I am sure the PHA will have a weeping and gnashing of teeth because the price seems to keep going up in order to accomplish what we need to do. But we are going to try and keep it a $5m for total renovation of Elizabeth Estates, renovation of South Beach, new staff, new equipment plus the renovation of Accident and Emergency.

“This administration has also committed to a brand new maternal child health wing and emergency room and so we can’t spend too much money but at the same time that is not going to happen tomorrow and the needs are great today.”

Dr Sands said his ministry is also exploring the option of moving some of the best doctors from PMH and relocating them into government clinics, to remove some of the pressure from the hospital.

Dr Sands also said the government is currently going through a list of more than 500 recommendations on how to improve the cost of health care in the country. He said with the new changes and the improvements to healthcare, “someone will have to pay for it,” but did not elaborate further.