Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am informed that no survey has been carried out to assess the average waiting time taken for a patient who is advised at the casualty or unsorted department for admission and the time he/she is admitted to the ward. I am advised that the waiting time for a patient who is advised by a doctor for admission and the time the patient reaches the admission ward depends on different situations and these are as follows – ▪ Insofar as emergency cases are concerned and that require immediate management and admission to Intensive Care Unit or High Dependency Unit, admissions are not delayed. As such, the admitting doctor or the emergency physician will accompany the patient to the admission ward and handover to the ICU or HDU doctor. For example, intracranial bleed patient, diabetic ketoacidosis patient, ectopic pregnancy patient etc. ▪ For cases of acute ischemic stroke patients and thrombosis are transferred immediately to the Stroke Unit at Victoria Hospital by SAMU for a thrombolytic management. This process may take 30 minutes to one hour before admission to the Stroke Unit. Note that the ideal time to reach the Stroke Unit should be less than four and a half hours from onset of symptoms. ▪ For cases needing emergency surgery, patients are sent directly to the operation theatre where surgeons are already available to carry out the intervention. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am further informed that delays may occur in cold and semi- urgent cases needing admissions. The waiting time depends on several factors that include the following – 1. Blood and X-Ray investigations being requested prior to admission; 2. Availability of beds in the admitting ward; 3. Patients with special needs needing immediate attention, such as elderly people, pregnant women, disabled, and children, and 4. The number of patients at peak time and off-peak time. I wish to inform the House that the situation prevailing in hospitals which the present Government has taken note of, is in deplorable state. However, as a responsible Government,

67 we will not give up and will leave no stone unturned to improve the services in our hospitals for the benefit of our population. In addition, we are also looking for the ways and means to try to reinforce the manpower in these hospitals.

I wish to thank the hon. Minister for his reply. No survey has been carried out during the past ten years, let’s say, and there is a critical time of 4.5 hours that an ischemic stroke patient should be managed. However, I find myself with a complaint from a patient dated 2 May, last week, which I am sure the Minister will find in the records of the Ministry, where the husband of the complainant had an ischemic stroke, got admitted at 5 a.m., in the chemotherapy ward of the hospital; probably because of a way of camouflaging the waiting time in the hospital. Blood tests take one hour of waiting and in case of emergency cases, it is more. The patient had to wait nine hours before the latter got transferred from the Chemotherapy Unit to the ward and that is why there was this pilot project of a transitional ward in Jeetoo Hospital. I wish to ask the hon. Minister, whether we could urgently try to implement a transitional ward so that patients who are on their feet, who do not need to be on the bed, can be in transition to a ward where they can wait for their prescriptions or other relevant papers. Meanwhile, other patients who have to be admitted urgently have their place instead of being transferred to chemotherapy wards in emergency cases.

Thank you. Do you want to answer?

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not deny the fact there are hundreds of cases of negligence in our hospitals and every day, I have the habit of receiving dozens of people and I look into cases personally every day in the morning, and the hon. Member knows very well. Secondly, as far as the question of a having a special ward to keep patients waiting there, I must say that a policy decision has to be taken at the level of the Ministry. It should not be for one particular hospital; it has to be for all the hospitals but I can assure the House that maximum care is being taken these days, and I have no doubt that in the weeks or months to come, all the petty problems which had been occurring here and there in hospitals, will be solved.

Do you have one question?

68

Merci, M. le président…

We are talking about Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Hospital.

Yes, M. le ministre, est-ce que vous êtes au courant qu’il y a un manque accru de personnel à l’hôpital SSRN et qu’est-ce que vous comptez faire pour pâlir à ce manquement ?

Unfortunately, for the last ten years, no nursing officers were recruited and there is a lack of 1,500 nursing officers and 300 doctors in our hospitals. And probably in the forthcoming budget, we will find room to at least recruit 200 nursing officers. Probably, by next week, we are going to advertise in order to recruit doctors on contract. So, I can assure the hon. Member that I am aware of the problem. That is the reason why I cannot accuse the doctors who are serving in the hospitals because they are overworked. We have to understand their situation. But by means of pleading to those doctors repeatedly, we are encouraging them to do the work in the meantime. In the months to come, probably, we will be having additional doctors in hospitals. I would also like to inform the House that about 30-35 specialist doctors have left the government service to be in the private sector. That is another problem for us.

The hon. Second Member for Belle Rose and Quatre Bornes! BELLE ROSE MARKET – PROPOSED RELOCATION