Scores of pregnant women who frequent the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital seeking ultrasound scans are being turned away and asked to seek the services privately, as there are currently no sonographers in the department.
The T&T Guardian understands that there are usually two sonographers at the department, but for almost a month it was left with none because one is on leave while the contract of the other was not renewed.
Pregnant women are now being turned away on a daily basis, with some of them having to find as much as $300 to $600 to pay for an ultrasound privately so they can take the results to their doctors at the hospital for their medical check ups/respective treatments.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian under strict anonymity yesterday, a senior doctor at the hospital admitted there is a problem but added it is being addressed.
The T&T Guardian understands interviews are now being conducted in a bid to fill vacant positions. The reason the contract of the former sonographer was not renewed was because the individual was not registered.
The senior doctor added that on a normal day more than three sonographers are needed to “effectively and efficiently carry out services.”
“The workload is heavy and we have a lot of complicated pregnancies where pregnant women are bleeding, threatened abortions, water bags burst prematurely and there is need to find out the health status of the unborn child and whether or not they are alive…all these are critical and therefore ultrasounds are very important,” the doctor said.
Yesterday (Thursday), for example, there was no sonographer in the department and the sonographer assigned to the department at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) was off.
“This is not good enough. At least there should have a replacement to accommodate the pregnant women. It is frustrating for them to come here looking to get ultrasounds done to find out if their trimesters are going as expected and to find out whether or not their babies’ lives are at risk,” another doctor, who also wished not to be unidentified, said.
T&T Guardian was told that the EWMSC’s Radiology Department is responsible for dispatching sonographers to health centres under the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) and senior officials at the Women’s Hospital have since suggested that staff redirect pregnant women to the health centres to have the ultrasounds done instead of referring them to private institutions.
When contacted yesterday for comment, acting Chief of Staff at the hospital, Dr Wayne Haqq, said he was restricted from commenting on the issue.
Head of the EWMSC Radiology Department, Dr Lisa Mohammed, also said she could not comment and referred the T&T Guardian to the NCRHA’s chief executive officer, Davlin Thomas. However, up to press time Thomas had not returned calls or reply to a text message sent to him. —Rhondor Dowlat
