ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC—The Grenada government says that public sector hospitals will operate as statutory bodies as of January 1 next year.
Health Minister Phillip Telesford said the 1998 Grenada Hospitals Authority Act would be the legal framework for removing the current public hospital services from direct management from the Ministry of Health.
“The hospital, operating under the current construct, has failed and will continue to fail,” said Telesford, who described the state of public health services as one in an emergency.
He said the government needs to take urgent action to remedy the emergency.
“The current construct has failed, and we need a government with courage, knowledge, and a vision to make this happen. We are not going to sit back and, because of political expediency, refuse to statutory the hospital,” Telesford said.
Speaking on a television programme here on Sunday, Telesford, who became Health Minister following the January Cabinet reshuffle, said the government will enforce the 1998 legislation in January 2025.
“After 50 years of a bureaucratic system that failed us at the general hospital, it is time to make a bold decision. We cannot just practice politics and forget about the people. This is about saving lives, and the time has come for us to statutory our hospital.
“Our aim and intention is to get a competent board of directors by January 1, 2025, and to get a competent set of managers who will work alongside the Board and with the existing Chief Medical Officer, Directors of Hospital Services, and other competent staff to transform healthcare in Grenada,” said the Health Minister.
The 1998 legislation provides the legislative basis for the establishment powers and duties of the Grenada Hospitals Authority. According to the 26-year-old law, the Authority shall, in accordance with the policy, as determined by the Board, after consultation with the Minister, manage the hospital facilities in Grenada and establish new hospital facilities from time to time.
The powers and duties of the Authority include managing hospital facilities; Providing efficient systems for the delivery of health care; providing the use of hospitals for service, teaching, and research; collaborating with recognized training institutions in the education and training of persons and in research, medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, bio-medical and health science fields and negotiating with trade unions concerning terms and conditions of its employees.
Teesford told viewers of The Bubb Report that the government will employ foreign-based nurses to fill the shortages in the current system.
“We will have to find a way to import, in the short term, nurses into Grenada because the rate at which we have seen the exodus of nurses over the years has created a direct problem for those who are in the system,” he said, without identifying the nationalities under consideration to be offered these jobs.
“There is an acute shortage of medical professionals in the system, so we have to find a way to attract resources to work there,” he added.
and then 