Pogson Medical Center, an example of the Labour Party Government’s vision

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, APRIL 6TH 2009 (CUOPM) – The new Pogson Medical Center is an example of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Government’s vision for health and commitment that all persons have the right to attain the highest possible standard of health.
 
Minister of Health, the Hon. Rupert Herbert said government believes it is its fundamental duty to see to it that access to health care services is realised and will continue to develop and implement the necessary policies, plans, programmes and projects to ensure universal coverage and universal access to comprehensive and holistic services in the communities where people live and work.
 
“This is our philosophy which is consistent with the notion of Primary Health Care which we continue to emphasize,” said Minister Herbert, who added that the Pogson Medical Center represents the continuation of the vision of the Pogson family which provided the land in 1890 upon which the original Pogson Hospital was built, because they saw and felt the medical and health needs of this area.
 
Minister Herbert noted that in the book, “100 Years of Medicine in St. Kitts and Nevis”, His Excellency, Dr. Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, Governor General, documented in stark terms, the abysmal social and economic conditions that existed at the time when that edifice was constructed.
 
“It is essential for the nation’s youth to be constantly reminded from whence we have come,” said Mr. Herbert, who noted that back in the days when the old Pogson was built,  the nation’s forebears were afflicted with diseases due to nutritional deficiency and poor sanitation.
 
“In that era, swarms of insects arising from swamps and garbage were commonplace; there was no piped water, and everywhere was a toilet.  Living quarters were at best cramped and teeming with insects and rodents. To add insult to injury, women were often forced to deliver their babies in the cane fields in which they worked.  These were the circumstances that drove the Pogson family to lend a helping hand to build a cottage hospital here in Sandy Point.  A similar act of generosity occurred in West Basseterre, when James Cardin returned from the USA to build the Cardin Home for the aged and infirm. We must never forget these early, private commitments to progress in public health,” said Herbert, who noted that the new facility built at a cost of EC$5.7 million stands as a modern-day reminder of the history and the struggle to better the lives of ordinary people of St. Kitts and Nevis.
 
Mr. Herbert reported that since the Pogson Medical Centre became operational on March 2nd 2009, nearly 600 cases were seen and treated up to 26th March.
 
The list of ailments treated included coughs and colds, cardio-vascular incidents, epilepsy, fever, diarrhea and vomiting, headaches, alcoholism, epigastric pain, abdominal pain, gynaecological cases, back pain, lacerations, nail pricks, insect stings, motor vehicle accident victims, burns, sprains, physical assaults, sexual assault, dog bites, falls leading to head injury and allergic reaction to antibiotics and foreign bodies
 
He said all of these patients were treated and discharged with 24 hours and only 10 were transferred to the JNF General Hospital in Basseterre, 10 miles away.