Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 15, 2016 (SKNIS): As preparations are being made for St. Kitts and Nevis to celebrate its 33rd Anniversary of Independence, come September 19, 2016, residents reflect on the re-opening of the Mary Charles Hospital as a symbol of development.
The hospital was erected in Molineux in 1986 in order to provide health services to persons residing on the eastern side of St. Kitts from Cayon to Dieppe Bay. Over the years it fell into disrepair and construction to upgrade the medical facility, had begun in December 2015. At the August 31, 2016 re-opening, it was revealed that $890,000 had been spent on the upgrades and there was still work that needed to be done on the Dental Unit section that had been used as a Health Centre during construction.
Warren Thompson of Lodge Village was particularly impressed that the Mary Charles Hospital would again serve as the base for an ambulance and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) team.
“With this upgrade of course, it really impacted the community as a whole, Constituency #7 as a whole, because then we will have a new building, we are going to have medical services resuming, and we’ll have additional medical services here and of course an ambulance here,” Mr. Thompson said. “Many times we would hear the ambulance approaching from Basseterre and we wondered how long it took for that ambulance to get here. Of course, it is something that impacts the community and the surrounding community, on a whole, positively.”
Similarly, Ronald Isaac of Phillips’ Village said that he personally would make use of the nearby medical facility.
“I feel so happy; once ago if you had health problems you couldn’t ever get doctors, and right now I understand that we are going to be getting an ambulance service and that is great,” Mr. Isaac said. “I believe everybody should be happy.
“Here is the only place I think I should go to because they say the same health services that are in the hospital in Basseterre, will be provided here, so there is no need for me to rush to the other hospital when I could get the service here.”
Winifred Weekes from Molineux agreed that it was very beneficial that the hospital was right there in her village.
“Of course it will be (beneficial), it had been before but it had to be renovated and I think it’s in a good location in this countryside because the main hospital is so far away and the next one is at Sandy Point,” Ms. Weekes said. “So when anything happens close by, they’ll be able to come here to get a first response before they go on to the other hospital. I think it is very beneficial that it’s here in Molineux.”
John Phillip explained that he hoped the upgrade would include customer service and confidentiality.
“I feel very good about the new hospital, and it gives me a heart of gratitude to know that Mary Charles is going to be open,” Mr. Phillip said. “I trust and hope that the staff at Mary Charles will provide efficient and confidential service. When anything happen in the hospital it should stay there and not become the knowledge of the general public.”
Joseph Thomas from Phillips’ Village and Mr. Thompson took the opportunity to thank their Constituency Representative, Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris.
“To tell you the truth, I feel real good, very good about it, because for years, 20 years, nobody did any work on the hospital,” Mr. Thomas said. “And now after a couple of months, a year and months, he (Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris) has done something. I think that is real good.”
“We welcome the work that was put in by the Government and of course our representative Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris Prime Minister,” Mr. Thompson said. “This (renovation of Mary Charles) was number one on his list because when he became Prime Minister, he immediately got this work going, and of course he was able to get donors too from the area, who also assisted.”
