By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
MORE than $30,000 in repairs were ordered on mobile X-ray machines at the Princess Margaret Hospital due to damage caused by rodents last year.
Urgent concerns of an “extensive” rodent infestation were documented in an email sent by technicians to hospital officials in May last year, which detailed repairs cost more than $27,500 for just parts.
“The replacement cost of each of these Philips Mobile Diagnost is $185,000 and each of the Affinity Ultrasounds is $80,000,” an email sent on May 8 just days before the PLP were thrown out of office, and obtained by The Tribune noted.
“The infestation of these rodents seems quite extensive and is continuing in that our engineers have found new and different evidence every time they remove the covers on either system. From a service perspective and also in an effort to preserve your very expensive assets, I cannot stress enough the urgency of eliminating this problem from the hospital.”
The Tribune reached out to hospital administration yesterday but did not receive a response up to press time.
“As you are aware, our engineers have been working with both Mobile Diagnost (digital mobile x-ray systems) in Princess Margaret Hospital that were damaged by rodents (presumed to be rats),” the email continued.
“So far, we have ordered parts in excess of $27,500 and the costs of labour and travelling exceeds $10,800. As I mentioned to you earlier, we are trying to have as much of these costs covered under warranty as Phillips will allow in an attempt to minimise costs to the hospital.”
The email added: “However please be advised no warranty or service contract will ever cover damage by rodents or pests. This means the client is responsible for all costs related to failures like this, including parts, shipping, labour, travel expenses, etc.”
Comments
DDK 6 years, 2 months ago
Rodent infestation? In The Hospital? Would it not have been less costly to eliminate the rodents, assuming they were/are the four legged variety? Why would anyone expect an equipment provider to cover damages by rodents under a warranty? Of course the client is responsible. Another bill for The People. Wonder what other parts of The Hospital are infested.......
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 2 months ago
Once rats get into a building its not easy to get them out. And it's very easy for them to get in, one door open to bring in a patient and in half a second a pregnant female rat is inside. If this problem was allowed to fester there could be hundreds inside. we're really asking them to do miracles with that building. They really need a new building
Sickened 6 years, 2 months ago
So that's a third government building that needs imploding. The Post Office (nice location for a hotel actually), the Prison (preferably done with all criminals still inside) and now the Hospital!
Of course every other government building, except the old Coutts building, is a complete disgrace, but we can let them be for the next administration.
sealice 6 years, 2 months ago
how dirty and disorganized does something have to be to get to a point where the rodent problem is this bad? WTF do they do there besides yell at patients and kill people... clearly not clean things up.....
Gotoutintime 6 years, 2 months ago
Rat traps are not very expensive---Seems like a reasonable solution!
joeblow 6 years, 2 months ago
Can't use them on the two legged kind!
birdiestrachan 6 years, 2 months ago
Sands will say the rats are the PLP fault.
DDK 6 years, 2 months ago
They probably are!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 2 months ago
What about the rats in the Parliament ........ according to Harly????????
And the rats in the Civil Service ........... according to Minnis dem???????????
John 6 years, 2 months ago
Eliminating rats in a building the size of the hospital is not a simple. By the time you treat one area the rats return. And because there are so many hidden spaces you can’t just use poison and the rats crawl off and die leaving a stench for days in an enclosed environment. But there may be a need for more effort to control rodents in especially the more populated parts of the island. Just to count the number of rats dead in the streets on a given morning. Especially after the garbage truck has passed. And the love areas with wires and electricity. Many people park their vehicles for a day or two only to open the hood and find rats have built a nest or bitten up wires on the car.
bogart 6 years, 2 months ago
Get some enclosed rat traps. ...or bring in the Pied Piper.
John 6 years, 2 months ago
Yes rats spreads disease because they pee on everything after they finished eating.
Dawes 6 years, 2 months ago
Whilst eliminating rats may be hard, you don't stop trying. It seems that this is just another indication of the lack of maintenance and prevention Government does on all buildings it owns. Of course it doesn't matter as its not them who will be paying for it. You only need to take a look at the number of run down buildings owned by Government to see that they don't care (Rodney and Clarence Bain buildings, old Royal Victoria, Post office etc), and whenever the problem gets too bad they talk about building a new building which should cost $5-10 million, but after all the generals get paid off will cost $40-50 million.
joeblow 6 years, 2 months ago
One must wonder why the purported rodent problem is confined to the Xray dept! Quite suspicious!
bogart 6 years, 2 months ago
Where there are rats there should be roaches etc. The job of sanitizing rodent control is a continuous one garbage, biohazard, sharps etc and must have permanent staff to control....the buck has to stpp somewhere and someone is respondible!!! Whosoever respondible should be FIRED for incompetance, negligence and endangering the well being of patients not to mention the enormous costs involved in operating crucial equipment where negligently being made inoperatable could....... result in critical care not being delivered to Bahamians, tourist, others. It dont mattet who dey related to or how many pastors can speak for dem......FIRE DEM.....responsible....Bahamians tired of gross negligrnce and....... more bread taken from people mout who can least afford it to pay for inefficencies, negligence, slackness...FIRE THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE ENDANDERING PEOPLES LIVES CAUSE THE RATS EATING UP THE XRAY AN ULTRASOUND MACHINE WIRES.....
hrysippus 6 years, 2 months ago
The PMH has a problem, infested with the rats, .. .. .... ... We cannot find a piper, but we could introduce some cats, ... ...... A large Bahamian Boa, for the nooks and hideaways, . .. .... .. Working through the nights, and working through the days. . .. ... A shift of trained Jack Russells would surely make short work,,. . .. ... Of clearing out those rodents, from the places that they lurk, .. .. .. .. And if you're sick and stuck in bed, .. ..... ........ ... Petting a dog can heal, it's said. So treating this problem with our legged friends, . .. .... has benefits more than the means to the ends.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID