TT: Does anybody care about patients?

A ROW between surgeons and nursing staff at the operating theatres of the San Fernando General Hospital is threatening to put a temporary suspension on surgery at the institution.

Yesterday it was feared that this could happen by weekend.

The showdown has come at a time when the hospital has some 2,000 outstanding operations to be performed.

The situation has become so critical that the Ministry of Health was forced to have a number of scheduled operations done at private institutions, it was learned.

One recent example of the effect the row was having came on July 5, when a patient, after undergoing a ten-hour surgery was left lying on a bed near a sink with no one attending to him.

The Express learned that a registrar from the Anaesthetics Department stayed for two hours with the patient until he was moved to Ward Seven.

Apart from the situation with operations, the deaths of six patients in the recovery room are also being investigated.

The most recent was the son of a Petrotrin official who died because of a breakdown in communication between doctors and the nursing staff. That matter is receiving the attention of the newly appointed executive medical director Dr Albert Persad.

Surgeons, more than most doctors, tend to believe that they are gods. Yeah, yeah, every fool is entitled to his fantasy.

This is socialised health care folks. Those in the U.S. who want a government run system had better take note.