CRH to open new A&E building today

WESTERN BUREAU:

Patients utilising the services at the Accident and Emergency Department at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay should be enjoying much greater comfort going forward as a new building to house that department is slated to be opened today.

Errol Greene, the regional director for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), told The Gleaner on Monday that everything was in place for the opening of the new building, which is located next door to the Mount Salem Health Centre.

"We've put in a small operating theatre, a triage area, a treatment room, a recovery area, and additional space to deal with the overcrowding that is present there at the moment," explained Greene. "The current space is inadequate. We had to provide two tents to assist with the overcrowding, and as it is now, we are suffering some serious overcrowding there."

The WRHA boss also told The Gleaner that the hospital is also poised to get a new building for its radiography department. That building is expected to be ready by December.

"We're constructing a building which will accommodate our X-rays and our radiography department," said Greene. "We expect that it will be complete in another 12 weeks. We're in a hurry to finish the building because it will reduce some of the costs that we are incurring now just to carry out these services by outsourcing them."

The hospital, which is now in recovery mode, will also be provided with 80 bed spaces within another six weeks. This will increase the hospital's current bed count to 300.

Noxious fumes at CRH forced the closure of the first three floors and the relocation of several clinics and departments, including Accident and Emergency, last year.