More patients than beds at the A&E wing of K.H.M.H.

The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is the only tertiary level referral hospital in Belize. And while there have been no confirmed cases of Influenza A (H1N1), the hospital is bursting at the seams and patients outnumber beds at the Accident and Emergency area. Marion Ali has more in the following report.

Marion Ali, Reporting
K.H.M.H. administration says the occasional shortage of beds is caused by several factors but it feels the problem can be efficiently addressed.

Dr. Khalid Ghazy, Director, Medical Services
“In the month of March and the month of April the emergency department was overwhelmed with patients. In March and April, if you’ve noticed, we’ve had a lot of accidents and also lot gunshot victims. We’ve had trauma patients versus accident patients. Accident and Emergency department at Karl Heusner can hold up to twenty-two patients.”

Marion Ali
It any give time?

Dr. Khalid Ghazy
“At any give time. And plus we have the outpatient clinic, which is an urgent clinic but we’ve noticed also the public are utilizing this clinic for any simple illness.”

Because patients flocked the hospital’s emergency care unit, Director of Medical Services, Dr. Khalid Ghazy, says the hospital had to care for nine thousand patients in the first three months of this year alone. But while people who have minor ailments like the regular flu and cough go for treatment to the K.H.M.H., Ghazy encourages those who have more severe illnesses to seek help there.

Dr. Khalid Ghazy
“Karl Heusner Emergency Department will be the place for somebody who have a chest pain; somebody who have an accident not matter how mild it is.”

Marion Ali
“So in that case, when you have an already crowded emergency area and you have a patient with a heart attack coming in or maybe a gunshot patient, what kind or priority decisions do you have to make?”

Dr. Khalid Ghazy
“At any time the amount of patients that we have even though that we have the twenty-two patients occupying the twenty two hospital accident and emergency beds. When these cases come as a priority some of the patients will be immediately dispatched into the hospital.”

But while they have to make space for the more severe cases when there is a shortage of beds, Dr. Ghazy advises patients with minor illnesses to seek help at the various polyclinics.

Dr. Khalid Ghazy
“There are clinics in Belize City and we do have a lot of them that are opened from eight o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock in the evening. They can provide every primary health care available including taking care of pressure, sugar, child illnesses and so forth. If, at any time, the family or patient feel that he is every ill to go the primary health care, feel free to attend to the accident and emergency right here at Karl Heusner.”

The K.H.M.H. opened in September of 1995 with a capacity of one hundred and twenty beds. Since then it has expanded to accommodate one hundred and forty beds. But because of the growing population, the hospital’s management is looking at ways to meet even higher demands.

Dr. Khalid Ghazy
“The Management and I think the Board also are trying to look at the further expansion in the hospital capacity. There is going to be a surgical ward and a medical ward. That’s in the projection plan for 2009/2010. There will be an addition of twelve beds combined between the surgical and medical ward just to accommodate an extra service that Karl Heusner will provide with the increase in the population and illnesses we have.”

Marion Ali
“Will that form a part of the emergency treatment care?”

Dr. Khalid Ghazy
“Yes, the minute that you have a good back up system in the hospital, when we’re talking about the availability of the beds, the patients don’t have to stay in the accident and emergency for a long period of time if there is an available bed in the hospital.”

While they try to cope with the growing demands, Ghazy says the hospital is also constantly working to enhance the quality of patient care and adds that you can forward complaints to the Hospital’s Public Relations Department. Marion Ali for News Five.

Ghazy says the K.H.M.H. does not turn away patients from receiving treatment, even if the person cannot immediately pay for advance healthcare. The hospital will work out a payment plan with patients who need to undergo specialist treatment or imaging services.