New Amsterdam Hospital expanding its High Dependency Unit

By Royan Abrams

The New Amsterdam Public Hospital has completed 85% of its capital works for 2016 with one of its major projects being the construction of a new High Dependency Unit at a cost of $14M. It is expected that the unit will be completed by January 2017.

According to the Director of Public Health Services in region six Jevaughn Stephen, the new unit will provide more specialized care for persons in regions five and six.

Additionally, the director of public health services noted that a number of other upgrades are being done at the Hospital to ensure that the quality of health services provided at the hospital is second to none.

“The New Amsterdam Hospital is in a form of transition, we will be upgrading our accident and emergency department because we see some 1,200 to 1,500 patients per week at A&E cause some week is close to 3,000 patients but the average is 1,500 so we upgrading and extending there also” he said.

He related that presently measures are being put in place to build enclosed cubicles to ensure doctor to patient privacy. Stephen said “we want doctors to have better one on one with patients.”

The aesthetic of the New Amsterdam Hospital has dropped over the years and therefore plans are also on stream to improve the general outlook of the building and also to increase the amount of doctors at the hospital.

Only recently the New Amsterdam Hosptal received via donation, a CT scanner valuing US$250,000. The acquisition of the CT scanner will save Berbicians financial resources and the time taken to travel all the way to Georgetown to get a CT scan done.