Owen King EU Hospital receives container loads of medical equipment and supplies
Up to six Container loads of equipment and furniture earmarked the Owen
King EU Hospital (OKEUH) were destuffed on the grounds of the new hospital
revealing high-end tools, supplies and equipment from Unit Export, one of
the suppliers for OKEUH.
As Saint Lucia eagerly awaits the official opening of the new hospital,
detailed planning, procuring, installing, testing, and training has been
ongoing at the facility. Work on the ground is expected to intensify in the
weeks ahead as up to fifteen more containers, from five contractors, are
scheduled to arrive on island in the coming weeks.
Claudio Meirovich, Technical Assistance Supervisor for the Owen King EU
Hospital provided details as to some of the items received thus far and
what is expected from the other contractors.
“All the furniture in terms of cupboards and everything that has to be hang
on the walls has arrived. All the tools for the maintenance team have also
arrived and in the next couple of weeks and months we are going to be
getting also all the clinical furniture, surgical tables, delivery beds,
hospital beds as well as specialized equipment. We’re going to get EMT
equipment, ophthalmology equipment and all that is going to be coming in
next month. Right now it’s a very interesting time for us in the
supervision because everything is coming in, we’re starting to install
things and we’re starting to move really fast.”
Meirovich expressed his excitement with this stage of the project while
stating that preparatory work such as the testing of medical gases and
water lines which are required for some of the medical equipment will also
be completed in coming weeks.
“I am very excited about this because we have been working on this allot,
for the past four or five years. It’s been a long time and we had several
challenges to get over and as I say we can see light at the end of the
tunnel already.”
Project Engineer at the OKEUH, Wendell Bernard said contractors alongside
the technical team at OKEUH have been extremely busy for the past two
weeks, including weekends, ensuring all equipment and suppliers from the
various containers are placed within the respective rooms in this massive
facility.
Bernard stated that the challenge is the ensure that minimal damage is done
to the facility while receiving and distributing all the equipment and
supplies from the various contractors.
“You are going to get walls being scratched as you move with equipment and
boxes about the place. We have a few cleaners and the maintenance team from
VH and persons we’ve hired to assist with maintenance on the project site.
So on a daily basis they would monitor the contractors moving the equipment
and direct them as to the way to clean it, what they are going to use to
clean it and help coordinate things so that we won’t have to many of these
issues happening as they go along. We’ve been telling them, protect our
floors, protect our walls, keep doors opened so we won’t get your pallet
jacks and your trolleys jamming into doors.”
The Project Engineer said the Owen King EU Hospital is touted to be one of
the best health facilities in the region.
“It’s like an envy for even the first world countries what we have there,
the construction of the hospital itself. What the persons from the European
Union has blessed us with is equipment to compliment that and what we’re
seeing is allot of new stuff coming in from our shelving to store
medication, tools to help maintain the place. I am very excited seeing that
coming in and even more excited to see that approach our team is taking on
ensuring the safety of it.”
The OKEUH is expected to be opened later in the year.
