BY JARED KOLI
WITH observed lack of access to quality health services at the National Referral Hospital (NRH), a local civil society activist is on an initial campaign to collect signatories from patients to support a petition calling on the Prime Minister to call for a Commission of Enquiry (COE) into the medical and health service provided at NRH.
Ishmael Nori who is currently a patient at the NRH Surgical Ward said having spent some time now at the hospital, he has observed that a lot of things needs government to take seriously.
Mr Nori is now calling for at least two volunteers to assist him in collecting signatures from patients in all wards in the hospital towards this cause.
“We the people and ordinary citizens of this country deserve a St Vincent-like quality hospital service here too,” he said.
“I have observed that for many people, there is nothing much to do for them here, if we can have services that are accessed by our Ministers or Members of Parliament at St Vincent hospital here during the early stages of their sick, that could prevent deaths and save lives here,” he adds.
Nori also questions how the government prioritizes health workers, doctors, nurses and technical staff on specialised trainings.
He questioned a report on the Parliament subcommittee on health over the report of their 2009 sitting.
“Where is the report, nothing has been done, it could have been shelved somewhere, what is the government is doing with the report.
“What we want the government to do is to prioritise to save lives same as the quality of service at St Vincent hospital,” Nori said.
He said he will put together the petition for people who believe that this is a good cause, all for the sake of improving quality of service in the hospital, such as improved state of the art medical facilities and so forth.
“How can we afford this, knowing our needs, identifying our medical needs is what we want, and at the same time identify specialise training needs to serve our people.
“Besides hospital relocation, the government must look at this as a national project,” Nori said.
