THE Department of Health & Wellness is continuing to make preparation for the smooth transition from the Victoria hospital to the new Owen King EU hospital through a series of discussions.
A delegation from the University Hospital of Martinique recently paid a visit to the Owen King EU hospital to provide their feedback and technical expertise on the transition from the Victoria hospital to the Millennium Heights Medical Complex.
Permanent Secretary in the Department of Health & Wellness Felix St Hill says he is very pleased with the collaboration with the team from Martinique given their experience from a recent transition to a new hospital.
“The support is in all facets of the transitioning: in medical and clinical, organisational, technological. The team has been working with us; they have been looking at our electrical system, our water system, our medical gas systems, and our policy with regard to maintenance, even some of our organisational issues. We share similar cultural experiences… and they have been advising us. The important thing is that Martinique just went through a transitioning themselves to the University Hospital of Martinique where they had some enlargements of their facilities and their own services.”
Director of Cooperation at the University Hospital of Martinique Christiane Bourgeois says it is important that they strengthen their medical cooperation with St Lucia.
“We discovered a wonderful and exciting building. This OKEU is a very interesting building. We discovered also a very engaged team; people ready for change. As for me, the visit was a very good one because we can see that the comprehensive plan has been prepared but there are some very specific technical issues to address in order to secure all plans. So, we leave St Lucia in the hope that they will succeed and we can help succeed this challenge.”
The Department of Health and Wellness wants to assure the general public that transitioning plans for the new hospital are progressing smoothly and that they are committed to providing quality health care services.