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The delivery of paediatric care in Barbados received a much-needed shot in the arm on Thursday, with the donation of medical equipment and furniture from the Shaw Centre for Paediatric Excellence to the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
The donation will benefit all the island’s polyclinics as well as the Albert Cecil Graham Development Centre and includes neonatal and infant scales, treatment/examination tables, blood pressure monitors, measuring mats for babies, patient monitors, and emergency trolleys.
On hand to receive the equipment, which was officially handed over at the Frederick “Freddie” Miller Polyclinic, Glebe, St. George, was Minister of Health and Wellness, Senator Dr. The Most Honourable Jerome Walcott, and other representatives from the ministry.
Paediatrician, Neonatologist and Programme Director of the Shaw Centre, Dr. Clyde Cave, presented the items to Minister Walcott, who lauded the work the Centre has been doing in Barbados over the years.
“This equipment will certainly modernise and bring more efficient management to paediatric cases. I think this will enhance the delivery of care in these polyclinics. I look forward to us providing even more research with this equipment as it relates to child growth, as it relates to [children’s] blood pulses, blood pressure, and so on,” the Minister stated.
Dr. Cave shared that the Shaw family, originally from Canada, has been residing in Barbados for over 25 years. “This investment is through the Hospital for Sick Children, and it is a seven-year programme aimed at elevating the care of children,” he stated.
The Shaw Centre for Paediatric Excellence (SCPE) Project is a partnership between The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Centre for Global Child Health in Toronto, Canada, and the Government of Barbados.
The partnership includes local implementing partners, such as the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and The University of the West Indies.
The goal of SCPE is to establish Barbados as a centre of paediatric excellence in the Eastern Caribbean through a robust partnership and targeted investment in the following objectives: Establishing a critical mass of health workers with expertise in paediatrics and investing in high-quality clinical environments; leveraging a new skilled health workforce to improve the quality of paediatric care and establishing a culture of continuous improvement; and investing in research and advocacy that informs policy and drives sustainability.
So far, close to 40 paediatric nurses have been trained and redeployed across the health system after completing the Graduate Diploma (PGDip) in Paediatric Nursing Programme at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, which was established through the Centre. Additionally, four physicians have also been trained in targeted, high-need paediatric subspecialties.