Clients of the Victoria Hospital are now benefiting from the donation of a hi-tech German-made mechanical ventilator donated by Mr. Malek El Sayed, the Honorary Consul for St. Lucia to Lebanon.
El Sayed said the main functions of the Consul are to represent St. Lucia on a diplomatic level and to assist the government and people of St. Lucia with the needs of the country. He said stemming from a request made by the Victoria Hospital funds were raised to assist in purchasing this ventilator.
The Victoria Hospital has been utilizing this vital piece of equipment within the ICU unit for over a month now although the formal handing over handing took place on Monday, November 7.
El Sayed said, “We are very happy that we had a tour inside. We saw that the patients are being treated carefully with the use of this ventilator and we thank the Victoria Hospital administration. We also thank the government of St. Lucia for allowing us to inspect and see how this ventilator is working. The government is actually very interested in expanding the collaboration between our consul mission and the hospital for future needs of the hospital.”
Dr. Becky Jno-Baptiste, Consultant Anaesthesiologist in the Intensive Care Unit at Victoria Hospital, said the ventilator is outstanding with the number of functions it can perform to assist a patient with breathing. She also went on to explain the purpose of the ventilator.
“What the ventilator does is that it gives breaths to the patient. For patients who are critically ill and are unable to breathe for themselves, like patients who have been in severe motor vehicular accidents and with other illnesses, the ventilator will breathe for them while the doctor and nurses care for them.”
The Executive Director of the Victoria Hospital, Jeanette Hughes, said discussions with Mr. El Sayed on procuring the ventilator commenced in January 2016 via the Washington Office. She added that the hi-tech piece of equipment will be among the list of equipment transferred to the Owen King-EU Hospital during the transition.
“Mr. El Sayed kept his promise and he ensured we had the ventilator delivered on time at the Victoria Hospital and for this we are extremely grateful. As you know, we will be transferring a lot of our equipment to the New National Hospital albeit we have new state-of-the-art equipment already donated by the EU. This ventilator is definitely high on the list to be transferred. Our intensive care unit at the New National Hospital, our Owen King-EU Hospital, has six beds but as anything else we need backup equipment and this ventilator will be transferred with us to the Owen King EU Hospital.”
Mr. El Sayed stated that the Honorary Consul for St. Lucia to Lebanon has been representing St. Lucia on a diplomatic level for the past six years.