by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): The Federation’s healthcare sector is undergoing a significant transformation, with new investments yielding tangible results, according to Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Hon. Dr Terrance Drew.
Speaking recently in the National Assembly, Dr Drew provided a comprehensive update on advancements within the Ministry of Health, particularly focusing on the Joseph N. France (JNF) General Hospital and emergency medical services.
The Prime Minister emphasised the substantial resources, both financial and human, invested in elevating the JNF Hospital to a new operational standard.
A key highlight of the Prime Minister’s address was the arrival of the first two of a new fleet of ambulances for St. Kitts and Nevis.
“A number of things have been done, and I just want to highlight that yesterday we received the first two of the fleet of ambulances that we will be having here in St Kitts and Nevis, so those two should be handed over tomorrow. But as I said, there was a delay because of the supply chain issues, and we are expected to receive all by November 2025. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, we know that these two additions to the fleet will make a significant difference. We will make sure never again that there is a dearth of ambulances here on St Kitts. This would ensure that the emergency services will almost always be delivering its service at a very high level. In addition to that, we just hired a number of EMTs and paramedics, two paramedics and about six EMTs to strengthen the emergency medical services, and we know that that also will have a tremendous impact. So in terms of having more ambulances, this will be the most ambulances we ever had in St Kitts and Nevis period. And this will be the most qualified cadre of emergency technicians or paramedics we would have ever had in our federation as well. So in addition to all of the specialists that we have added and the number of other services that we have added to the JNF, we are also making sure that our emergency services are also functioning at a very high level.”
Declining In-Hospital Deaths Reflect Investments
Dr Drew also presented compelling data on the decline of in-hospital deaths across the Federation, attributing this positive trend to the government’s healthcare investments.
“We are now seeing the fruits of all the investments we are making in the hospital. We are now seeing that the in-hospital deaths are declining as we speak. So, after COVID, I think I spoke about the extra deaths from COVID. It happened across the whole world. For whatever reason, the mortality rate went up across the world after COVID. It could have been a combination of many things that resulted in a higher number of people dying as a result of that period. We suffered that, and I’ve spoken about it here. And to deal with it, we had to put, of course, a lot of measures in place so that we can start to see the declining rate of death in the hospital. And even to try to get ahead of the curve, even though we were following the normal curve of what happened post-COVID, whether it be North America, Europe, or wherever, that we would start to see that curve bend so that we would have less deaths in the hospital. So, for example, in the second quarter of 2023, we had 133 deaths here in the Federation in hospitals across St. Kitts and Nevis.”
He continued, “In 2024, we had 125 deaths in the same quarter. And in 2025, so we went from 132 in 2023, 125 in 2024, and to 104 in 2025. That’s after the second quarter. So these second quarter numbers show us that we have now turned the corner and the number of deaths are dropping significantly. It means, therefore, that all the measures that we have been putting in place, we are finally starting to see that those measures are translating in saving lives. And we know that is a real number. We have examined the number and so forth. So to go from 132 to 125 to 104, so that 104 number is a significant number because that would be 21 deaths during that period, and 21, that is a significant number, maybe about a fifth or so, and that is about 20%. So to have a 20% drop off in anything is a significant number, especially in a small country. Those people whose lives are saved are our family members, our friends, our neighbours, and so forth.”
The Prime Minister raised the statistics of declining deaths at the hospital to address recent musings suggesting an increase in fatalities at JNF.
“So I just want to put asunder that, I would say, how would I describe it? Irresponsible comment by people trying to undermine St. Kitts and Nevis, by trying to say to the world that deaths in the hospital are going up, when we are seeing a significant drop in the number of deaths in the hospital. And so I want to ask people to refrain from lying, to refrain from giving people misinformation for some sort of political advantage that you think you will gain from it. The numbers speak for themselves, Madam Deputy Speaker. Let us thank our health care workers who have really put in the work to ensure that we would see such tremendous results.”
The government’s commitment extends to achieving international accreditation for JNF Hospital, signalling a continuous journey towards improved standards and services.
