Basseterre, St. Kitts (October 22, 2004): The Ministry of Health and Environment has entered into a collaborative effort with a Guadeloupian group headed by Dr. Jean Marc Periott to bring CT Scan services to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Preparations are well underway for the establishment of the machine at the Joseph N. France General Hospital. Medical Chief of Staff Dr. Cameron Wilkinson explained that it will greatly assist in the delivery of health care services in St. Kitts and Nevis.
He said that for many years patients would first have to be stabalized before travelling to Antigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago or Puerto Rico and the cost was prohibitive to many. Even more costly were instances where patients would have to travel via air ambulance. He said that now it would be just a trolley ride from the emergency room to the CT Scan suite.
Dr. Wilkinson further noted that the diagnostic capabilities of the hospital would also be greatly increased.
He said the CT scan machine has diagnostic capabilities for head injury, management of strokes, neck injury, chest trauma and intra-abdominal pathology. He added that it puts St. Kitts and Nevis at the cutting edge of medicine and technology in the delivery of health care services. The Medical Chief of Staff said that the CT scanner will become fully operational December 20, 2004.
Dr. Jean Marc Periott who is accompanied by Ms. La Felet, the group’s Quality Control Manager, is presently in the Federation assisting with the installation of the CT Scan Machine. He gave his credentials. He explained that he did all my studies at Européen Georges Pompidou, the biggest hospital in Paris, France. Dr. Periott said the facility gave him an opportunity to work with various types of medical equipment including two CT scan machines and two MRI scanners. He further noted that it was his pleasure to assist in improving the medical technology in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Dr. Periott will also be holding training sessions for JNF staff on the use of the CT scan machine and its maintenance from December 6 to 11, after which the machine will be commissioned in time for the December 20 target date.
