BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (SKNIS) – The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has newly procured 15 dialysis machines and recently secured the services of three medical specialists to better serve the people of St. Kitts and Nevis and enhance the operations at the Joseph N. France General Hospital.
Dialysis is a treatment for people whose kidneys are failing. When there is kidney failure, the kidneys no longer filter blood the way they should. With haemodialysis, the machine removes blood from the body, filters it through a dialyzer, or an artificial kidney, and returns the cleaned blood to the body.
The much-needed life-saving medical equipment was donated to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis by the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Mr. Charles Estridge, a national residing in Canada, in collaboration with Mr. Gareth Payne.
The acquisition of these dialysis machines marks the fulfillment of a promise made by Prime Minister and Minister of Health, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew.
In a message read by Mr. Austin Edinborough, Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr. Estridge stated, “I was once taught to stop asking how can I help but rather to be proactive, in that when one perceives a need it is incumbent on them to do everything in their power to fulfill that need. To that end, it is my fervent prayer that these dialysis machines be utilized fully to the benefit and care of the people of my home country, and further to the development of the dialysis programme.”
In accepting the donation, Prime Minister Dr. Drew expressed his profound gratitude to all involved in making the donation possible. The prime minister further stated that the addition of these dialysis machines will play a critical role in the Federation’s goal of gaining international accreditation across its health institutions.
“As we continue to strive for accreditation, I want to ask our esteemed healthcare workers to continue to put in the hard work they are putting in. At the end of the day, we are from St. Kitts and Nevis. Our people need us; they need our care, our compassion, our expertise and they are also expecting high level of quality care which we must always seek to improve and never compromise on,” Dr. Drew said.
Prime Minister Dr. Drew added that the next step for his administration is to introduce renal transplant surgeries in St. Kitts and Nevis soon.
“I travelled recently to the UK. I met with the surgeon from a very prestigious hospital who has now committed his services to us here in St. Kitts and Nevis. He is expected to visit us within the next six weeks. He will come, look at our condition and situation and upgrade where we need to upgrade in order to facilitate renal transplant. He is of the opinion that based on what he can do and what we have we can do it and facilitate it and so I’ve made the necessary calls to make sure we are already putting things in place to have the option of renal transplant,” said Prime Minister Dr. Drew.
In recent months, the Government has also obtained other important medical equipment for use at the JNF General Hospital for the benefit of the people. These include a state-of-the-art Leica M690 Surgical Operating Microscope System, an MRI machine, an EEG machine, and an automated urinalysis machine at JNF laboratory all with the aim of positively transforming the healthcare sector in the country.
