The Tribune

By Morgan Adderley

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

PRINCESS Margaret Hospital has suspended non-emergency surgeries this week while it investigates a suspected sabotage attack.

Health Minister Dr Duane Sands yesterday declined to comment on what led to the suspicion of sabotage of the hospital’s chilling and air-conditioning systems. However, Bahamas Public Services Union president Kimsley Ferguson, whose union represents the workers in the engineering department, was adamant his union will take “legal action” should its workers again be falsely accused of tampering with the systems.

Mr Ferguson also alleged the claims of sabotage are a “cover up”, as the hospital should have replaced those units years ago. Both Dr Sands and Mr Ferguson made these comments in interviews with The Tribune yesterday. When asked what led to the suspicion of sabotage, Dr Sands replied: “We’re not minded to let the perpetrators know what it is that led us to make that comment,” ultimately declining to specify.

However, Mr Ferguson had fiery words about the matter.

“We have yet to hear PHA (Public Hospitals Authority) indicate who they’re looking at as it relates to sabotage,” he said. “And I believe it’s only a cover up, because they haven’t actually replaced the units.”

When asked to clarify, Mr Ferguson said: “The units need to be replaced and they’re constantly malfunctioning.”

“And so, it’s very easy for them to insinuate that it’s somebody that works for PMH…I’m not going to take this one very lightly if they’re insinuating that it’s members that we bargain for that is connected with sabotage.

“Certainly, we’re going to take some legal action. Because two of our guys, it was claimed that two of our guys would have done so, and they suspended them earlier in this year. And they had to bring them back to work because what they were claiming was not so.

“If they accuse persons (and) are unable to substantiate those claims, we’re not going to stand by and let them continue to do that to cover up their shortcomings.”

On Friday, PMH released a statement announcing the suspension of non-emergency surgeries.

“Patients booked for surgical procedures between the 12th through 19th of July 2019 are asked to contact the hospital at 357-8795,” the statement read.

“Following months of challenges associated with maintenance, power failures and possible sabotage, PMH has commenced works to facilitate the installation of an upgrade to the chiller system of the Critical Care Block (CCB) and will engage the Royal Bahamas Police Force to investigate a possible compromise in security.

“Challenges with the cooling system in the CCB led to the public tender for new chillers and additional interventions to safeguard the HVAC system. It is anticipated that manufacturing and installation of this new system will occur over the next five months.

“In the interim, equitable chiller capacity has been leased and will be installed to accommodate the installation upgrade. Management apologises for any inconvenience caused and appreciates the public’s patience at this time.”

When asked if all surgeries should be back on schedule by July 19, Dr Sands said the temporary chiller that has been leased is scheduled to arrive in New Providence today.

“And then it goes on a flat bed truck, it’ll sit in the driveway or somewhere on the premises and be hard-wired or hard-connected to the cooling system in the Critical Care Block. The cooling system now operates ideally on about 400 tons of chilling capacity. We have a brand new chiller that gives 100 tons,” Dr Sands said.

“That was the one that was replaced in 2017. The others have been…together we might be able to eek out another 100-something tons, but now one of them is completely gone. And then the other is depending on whether they’re running at 20 percent or 30 percent, that determines the effective cooling of the Critical Care Block - that’s the Intensive Care Unit, the Operating Theatre, et cetera. And that system was tied into Accident and Emergency as well.

“So we are going to be bringing in 250 tons of cooling capacity, which together with the 100-plus tons of cooling capacity will put us back to normal. Then, the brand new chillers, two chillers, each of 100 tons, will be put in line to replace the one that’s dead and the other one which is not functioning terribly well. So, that ought to put us back to normal. That plus some other monitoring and maintenance fixes.”

He confirmed this upgrade is expected to be complete by July 19, adding the permanent fix is going to take four to five months.

Dr Sands also said the public should not expect further suspensions between now and December, noting the hospital will maintain the temporary chillers until the permanent chillers are running.

The health minister also spoke to the overall impact of sabotage and suspension of services on the hospital and Bahamian people.

Regarding rescheduling surgeries, he said extra sessions will have to be created, which in itself “poses a serious challenge for the hospital”.

“Because if you now have to go into overtime again, and overtime is already a problem, then you’re dealing with a major challenge,” he said.

“Anytime that there is a disruption in the delivery of care, the human impact is significant,” Dr Sands continued. “No matter what the reason - whether it’s due to an industrial action, whether it’s due to sabotage, whether it’s due to natural disaster…whenever we have to interrupt care, there are human consequences.

“And so while we cannot control the natural disasters, certainly the impact related to interference by sabotage or deliberate actions is most unfortunate. And clearly any individual who could possibly be involved in such activity should rethink, given the implications that this could have on ordinary Bahamians.”

On July 8, the Ministry of Health signed a $1.1 million contract with Caribbean International Air Conditioning Services Limited to install a new air chiller system at PMH’s Critical Care Block. There have been problems with the building’s air-conditioner since 2017.