An internal audit of ventilators in the public health system as at Thursday June 20 shows that 42 per cent of the total number of breathing machines on registry are not working.
The count revealed that there are a total of 210 ventilators on the asset registry.
Of that number, 120 are listed as operational across the health regions and the University Hospital of the West Indies.
Ninety are listed as non-operational.
Among those listed as non-operational, the Ministry of Health has disclosed that they are either irreparable, being repaired, awaiting parts or being reviewed.
Daina Davy reports.
Within the South East Regional Health Authority, SERHA, 49 ventilators are listed as operational.
The Spanish Town Hospital falls under SERHA. Nine ventilators at Spanish Town are listed as operational, while 14 are listed as non-operational.
There is no ventilator at the Linstead and St. Josephs hospitals.
Only one ventilator is at the Princess Margaret hospital. That machine, the health ministry says, is operational.
At the Bustamante Hospital for Children, eight ventilators are operational. Five are non-operational.
Over at the Kingston Public Hospital, 31 ventilators have been listed as operational, while 23 have been listed as non-operational. Of the 23 listed as non-operational, eight are awaiting parts.
This brings the total number of non-operational ventilators across SERHA to 42.
The audit shows that the University Hospital of the West Indies has 25 operational ventilators and 29 which are non-operational. Of the 29 non-operational ventilators, 17 are awaiting parts.
The internal audit revealed that within the North East Regional Health Authority, NERHA, ten ventilators are operational.
Six of the machines are at the St. Ann’s Bay Hospital and four at the Annotto Bay Hospital. No ventilators have been listed for the Port Maria and Port Antonio hospitals.
The count also indicated five non-operational ventilators within NERHA- two of which the audit says are awaiting parts.
Within the Western Regional Health Authority, 26 ventilators are operational. Of that count, the Savanna-La-Mar hospital has five and 21 are at Cornwall Regional.
There is no ventilator at the Noel Holmes hospital, while the lone machine at the Falmouth Hospital is being repaired.
The audit also lists seven other ventilators as being non-operational across the health region due to the need for parts and repairs.
A review is also being conducted to determine if one machine should be repaired on placed on the obsolete list. And in the Southern Regional Health Authority, ten of the machines are functional.
Eight ventilators are at the Mandeville Regional Hospital and two at the May Pen Hospital.
Two of those ventilators are listed as portable and used when transporting patients between hospitals.
Another six ventilators have been listed as non-operational with the audit noting that the machines are being reviewed.
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