Dental clinics stalled in Mt. Hope
The Dental Hospital at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), in Trinidad and Tobago, has needed to have a number of its outpatient clinics rescheduled due to a lack of supplies.
The clinics at the EWMSC, in Mount Hope, had run out of disposable towels for patients due to the North-Central Regional Health Authority’s (HCRHA) debt to medical suppliers. Apparently an order was placed with the suppliers of the Scott Interfold towel suppliers in June, at an estimated cost of around forty thousand dollars; however, the supplier had already closed its account with the NCRHA. The closing of the account came due to outstanding bills of approximately one hundred thousand dollars owed by the NCRHA and, last week, the Clinical Head of the Dental Hospital wrote to the EWMSC Administrator advising that there were no towels in stock.
Clinical Head Dr. Natasha Kochhar had declared in her letter to Administrator Collin Bissessar that the disposable towels were extremely important to the hospital’s infection control policy, and without them the institution would be forced to reschedule the outpatient clinics. The Dental Hospital is now only dealing with emergency cases.
Public Services Association (PSA) Industrial Relations Officer, Yvonne de Peiza, questioned the financial dealings of the Dental Hospital; ‘What are they doing with the money given (to them) by the Ministry of health to pay suppliers?’ She also questioned the recent changes to the running of the facility, as it has developed into a “free” facility, and claimed that it was ‘running into the ground.’
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