The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort has arrived in the federation to begin its weeklong visit to provide free medical services to the public.
The USNS Comfort was on Thursday stationed in the waters off Basseterre and staff have been tendered to land and have begun setting up at the walk-in sites, while the medical equipment was offloaded by the ship’s helicopter to the Deep Water Port.
The ship will begin seeing patients on Saturday, October 5 through October 10th as part of its eighth medical mission stop in the Caribbean, Central and South America.
During Comfort’s mission, medical professionals from the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy, alongside eight partner nations and non-governmental organizations, will be working with local health and government partners.
According to the US Embassy for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, the ship will conduct approximately 100 onboard surgeries, provide basic medical services at two medical walk-in sites as well as host health fairs/community outreach to address various public health topics.
The Embassy noted “Onboard surgeries will fall under the categories of Opthalmology, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Wound Care and Urology. The categories of services offered at the medical walk-in sites are Adult Medical Services, Pediatric Medical Services, Dental, Optometry, Physical Therapy and Dermatology.”
The walk-in sites in will operate from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day on a first come, first serve basis.
St. Kitts and Nevis Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws provided the logistics for the medical mission.
“The land-based medical services will involve the provision of healthcare at the two (2) following sites in St. Kitts: (1) Antioch Baptist Church Grounds, Lime Kiln (next to the NEMA Headquarters); (2) St. Paul’s Community Centre. Persons from St. Kitts and Nevis are invited to access medical care at these two medical sites from October 5, 2019 to October 10, 2019 from 9:00 am through to 3:00 pm daily. Interested persons will be provided with preventive care, basic medical evaluation, dental screenings, and optometry screenings & treatment. If you are interested in accessing such medical care, simply present yourself at either of these two sites and you will be seen by the medical professionals.
“Members of the public should take note that the Surgical Mission involves the provision of surgical care to persons diagnosed with a surgical problem onboard the hospital ship. Such individuals would have been referred to the hospital ship by their attending local physician. If you have been diagnosed with a surgical problem and if you are interested is ascertaining surgical care you are invited to visit your regular physician or the District Medical Officer (DMO) at the nearest health centre. The DMO or your regular physician will then confirm suitability for your referral to the ship hospital. Your regular physician or the DMO will be required to complete the relevant documentation and submit your name and completed document to Dr Keisha Liddie, Director of Community Health Services and focal point for the ship hospital in St. Kitts, or to Dr Judy Nisbett, Medical Officer of Health and focal point in Nevis.”
In some territories visited by USNS Comfort there was fear mongering that the staff would be engaging in clinical research without permission from patients. Concerns were also raised about the collection of patients’ medical information.
According to a report from Grenadanow.com Patrick Amerbach, Chief Medical Officer onboard the USNS Comfort gave the assurance that
“Everything we are using here is FDA approved. Everything that we do here is of a quality standard as done in the US healthcare system.”
The initiative is said to reflect the United States’ ongoing commitment to friendship, partnership, and solidarity with partner nations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.