Victoria Hospital

Hospital and its evolution? Sister Adesanya: “Victoria Hospital has been in existence for over 150 years. It was a colonial hospital built by the British Army when they were here. It was initially run by nuns, specifically for soldiers, and it evolved into the main public hospital on the island. Later, St. Jude’s Hospital was built, so the island had two hospitals. Victoria Hospital has been offering general services to the public for the entire time. It is a government- run hospital, which means it is funded by the government under the governance structure of the Ministry of the Public Service and the Ministry of Health. “In 1992, a major addition to the original colonial hospital was built by the French. It was a new wing created specifically for the obstetrical department. The rest of the building is basically the old structure with a few bits and pieces added. Victoria Hospital is the larger of the two public hospitals on the island, with 162 beds; St. Jude’s only has about 50 beds.We’re in the north, so we serve a bigger catchment population than the south, as well.” Calixte: “Victoria Hospital is a major employer in St. Lucia; we have about 520 employees on staff. In the case of our doctors, we don’t have a full medical school on the island.What we have are a few offshore universities, but the majority of our physicians go abroad to study. If you look at the physician mix we have in St. Lucia, at Victoria Hospital we have foreigners along with locals who studied abroad and have returned. Regarding VICTORIA HOSPITAL the nurses, Victoria Hospital always had its own School of Nursing until 1988, when our school was transferred to the Community College. Following that, we added two additional nursing schools, so we currently have three on the island.” BVC: What is the status of the new Owen King European Union Hospital (OKEU) and how will it impact Victoria Hospital? Calixte: “The Owen King European Union Hospital is replacing Victoria Hospital. The new hospital is about a five minutes’ drive from VH and is part of the Millennium Heights Medical Complex (MHMC). If you look at what we have now at VH, compared to what’s at the new hospital, we’ll have a larger ICU capacity.We’re moving from three ICU beds to having six beds, plus more operating theaters, and a larger space, CT scans, MRIs – some services which we don’t have in our present structure. “The new facility will allow us to do much more and provide better services to the public of St. Lucia. In addition, Victoria Hospital is more than a century old and really falling apart. The OKEU Hospital has the space to function at the standard required to allow our processes to take place. Basically, it’s a safer, more comfortable space for patients and staff. It will be state-of-the-art with better technology and more equipment. “Initially, everything for the new hospital was EU funded, in terms of the equipment and the building structure.When we begin operating, the government will take over budgeting for everything for the hospital under the new governance. At Victoria Hospital, we are under