Medical records at St Ann’s hospital damaged by fire
Thursday, May 15 2014
An early morning fire at St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital has damaged medical records of patients and other records pertaining to the business of the institution.
“We have to find out what went on,” Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan told reporters yesterday morning when asked about its origins.
He spoke to the media at yesterday’s commissioning of a ramp at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
The fire occurred about one month after requests for records of the purchase of all medical equipment over the past four years were made, a source at the hospital told Newsday yesterday.
The fire, which reportedly started in the medical records department affected patients in Ward 5.
“Thankfully no one was hurt,” Khan said. Patients in Ward 5, who are supposed to be mobile, have been moved to other sections of the facility. “I understand that three patients have left,” he said.
A staffer at the hospital told Newsday that the fire which started at about 12.45 am affected mainly the medical stores records.
“The records were burnt. It was not an electrical fire. Electricity was restored to the building early in the morning and the fire service are still investigating,” he said.
The fire occurred, he said, after the legal department of the North West Regional Health Authority sent a letter to the hospital requesting copies of all transactions of medical equipment that were ordered over the past four years, the quantity that were ordered and the present location and status of the equipment.
“That is what is strange about that fire,” he said.
Of interest, he said, was that the hospital’s electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, which was used to evaluate the electrical activity in the brain, was not functioning and its parts had been cannibalised.
The fire took place on the floor below Ward 8 which is currently under renovation, and where no patient was being accommodated. Ward 5, which suffered mainly from being water logged due to the efforts of the TT Fire Service to contain the blaze from spreading to other parts of the facility, is located opposite the area where the medical records were stored.
According to Khan some medical records were damaged and they have to be replaced by asking patients about their medical history.
He has been speaking, he said with the Policy Department in the Ministry of Health about creating duplicate records which will allow patients to have one set to take home.
At present, too, he said that the ministry was in the process of seeking to establish an electronic health records system.
A team from the ministry leaves for London today to look at the electronic system in place for health information management, he said.
