KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The Modern Medical and Diagnostic Centre here celebrated its fifth anniversary on Thursday with the commission of St. Vincent and the Grenadine’s first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, donated by the Barbados-based charity, Maria Holder Memorial Trust.
“Nations have their borders, but humanitarianism does not have boundaries; countries and peoples may be rich or poor, but each person’s right to basic health service should be equally guaranteed,” Peter Symmonds, a trustee of the Maria Holder Memorial Trust, told the commissioning ceremony in Georgetown.
Symmonds announced that the trust would donate two ambulances to the island by the end of July.
He said that although the trust is established and based in Barbados, it is fully aware of the challenges and difficulties faced by eastern Caribbean countries in providing health services to its citizens.
“And that’s one of the reasons we are here. We have been here, and I think we’ll be here in the future as long as the trust exists,” Symmonds said, adding that the donation of the MRI machine will aid in strengthening the healthcare delivery to residents here and neighboring islands.
“And in our view, and I stress, that the provision of medical care is invaluable and a government should have the duty of care for every citizen for which, but more importantly, the MRI through its non-invasive technology will assist with scans and should help save lives.”
MRIs have played a significant role in shaping the healthcare industry approach to detection, monitoring, and tracking of medical conditions, Symmonds said, noting that since its invention in the 1970s, many improvements have been made to the MRI to increase its performance and accessibility.
“MRIs have traditionally been used as a high-end modality … and although shown extremely important for many types of clinical scenarios, it has been suggested that it’s been too expensive by some. The trust, our trusts, always feel that costs should not be a factor when it comes to the issue of lives of human beings,” Symmonds said.
“As a charitable organization, we know that the provision of health care comes at a high price for some countries and some small island development states as this requires aid to meet these demands.
“There is little doubt, and I don’t think there’ll be an argument, that the MRI machine is one of the most powerful diagnostic tools in contemporary clinical medicine. The Maria Holder Trust, therefore, does not take this donation lightly. We envision the improvements to the healthcare system, and the importance of this donation in our belief cannot be measured in dollars, but rather in the value of human life.”
He did not disclose the cost of the MRI machine, saying, “I think anyone can go online and see what an MRI costs. It’s costly.
“But the money has been well spent. And we certainly trust and believe that the MRI … will be most helpful, beneficial to the citizens and residents of this lovely country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
Health Minister Jimmy Prince, speaking at the ceremony, said the cost of bringing the MRI machine to SVG was EC$10 million (One Ec dollar=US$0.37 cents), adding, “That’s not the final cost.”
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