Blind and visually impaired persons are urging the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to implement audio alerts for medication collection, highlighting a significant accessibility gap in healthcare services.

Their calls come in the wake of repeated challenges members of that community encounter while accessing certain services at the island’s lone public general hospital.

On Thursday, a caller on the radio call-in programme Down to Brass Tacks complained that while audio alert indicators were put in place to accommodate persons with disabilities in at least two of the island’s polyclinics, more could be done at the hospital.

The caller, who identified himself as blind, said: “What I am calling about is something that I experience every time I go to the pharmacy at the QEH and I hoping that the director of the QEH and the minister is listening to me very carefully. I am blind, let me make that clear first. When I go to Winston Scott Polyclinic or the Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic to get medication, there is a device at the pharmacy that tells you the number and you then would go up to the pharmacy and hand in your prescription and get your medication. But what I have observed is that when I got to the eye clinic at the hospital and I have to go and get medication from the pharmacy, they have that same device but it doesn’t talk. So anybody that goes to the pharmacy at the QEH that is blind or visually impaired they have to depend on somebody to tell them when their number is up on the screen. I would like the director of the hospital or the minister to look into that and make sure that they put one of the ones that talk.”

Failing that, the caller suggested that a teller terminal system be set up in which people could pull numbers and an automated audio caller would announce the number.

Vice-president of the Barbados Council for the Disabled, Ambassador Kerry-Ann Ifill, confirmed that her organisation had received numerous complaints about the situation over the years.

Ifill told Barbados TODAY that there were technologies such as vibrating buzzers that could be used.

“They could use the same system that the restaurants are using, the buzzer system, which would make better sense because they flash and vibrate and use them for people who only have disabilities. That way, when you go and you are blind or deaf, nobody would have to tell you when your number [is] called. That is a simple solution and yes, it is a big issue that we face with the hospital,” she said.

Asked how persons with disabilities get around the issue, she said: “With a lot of frustration and there are some good people out there that will tell you your number called or ask you what number you have and monitor it for you. Some nurses also assist but it doesn’t lend to an independent experience.”

Ifill added that people with disabilities wanted to be independent and feel empowered and issues such as this were a major setback.

When contacted, the QEH promised a response to the concerns highlighted, but no statement was provided up to press time. (SZB)

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The Vector Control Unit will concentrate its fogging exercise in St Lucy and St Peter for most of this week.

On Monday the team will visit communities in St Lucy, including Trent’s Road, Hannays Road, Swampy Town, and Hope Bridge Road.

The Unit will focus on areas in St Peter on Tuesday when it goes into Speightstown, Queen Street, Bovell Road, Mango Lane, Chapel Street, Gooding Alley, Major Walk, Sand Street, Church Street, Golden Mile with avenues, and environs.

Wednesday will see the team return to St Lucy, where the following areas will be sprayed: Pie Corner, Little Bay, Upper Salmond, Josey Hill, Rock Hall, Mount View, Chance Hall, Cave Hill, and Bishops.

It will be the turn of Graveyard, The Risk, Date Tree Hill, Boscobelle, Collins, Diamond Corner, Moore Hill, Castle, and Gays in St Peter, on Thursday.

The fogging exercise for the week will conclude on Friday in the following St Michael and Christ Church districts: Deighton Road, Gooding Road, Brathwaite Gap, Dayrells Road, Plum Close, Rockley New Road, Ventnor Gardens, and Golf Club Road.
Fogging takes place from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. daily. Householders are reminded to open their windows and doors to allow the spray to enter. Children should not be allowed to play in the fog.

Members of the public are advised that the completion of scheduled fogging activities may be affected by events beyond the Unit’s control. In such circumstances, the Unit will return to communities affected in the soonest possible time.

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Santo Domingo.- Pro Consumidor’s executive director, Eddy Alcántara, announced that as of Wednesday, October 30, all companies involved in the distribution, marketing, and bottling of drinking water, as well as small businesses, will be prohibited from displaying water bottles in direct sunlight. This decision comes after scientific studies demonstrated the health risks posed by such exposure.

Alcántara emphasized that the measure aligns with agreements made with water bottling associations to prevent further exposure of this essential product to harmful conditions. Businesses are urged to store water properly to ensure it remains safe for consumption.

Pro Consumidor had previously warned of “drastic” sanctions against companies that fail to comply with this regulation due to the risks associated with sun exposure.

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) submitted a draft law to the National Congress aimed at decriminalizing medical acts where there is no intent to cause harm. The proposal, presented by Deputy Dr. Monserrat Santana to the Chamber of Deputies, emphasizes that the doctor-patient relationship is based on good faith, with medical procedures focused on patient well-being, and should not be criminalized without proof of malicious intent.

The CMD bases its proposal on several constitutional principles:

• The right to health as a fundamental right in the Dominican Constitution.
• Protection of human dignity as a core function of the state.
• Presumption of good faith in medical procedures aimed at preserving life and health.
• A need for clear legal criteria to ensure health professionals are penalized only when malicious intent is proven.

The CMD believes this reform is crucial for providing legal security to doctors while upholding patients’ fundamental rights. The organization hopes Congress will favorably consider the proposal, as it would reduce unjustified legal risks for medical professionals and strengthen the Dominican health system. The project seeks a balance between responsible medical practice and legal protection for both doctors and patients.

That’s the thinking of advocates and state legislators across the country, who also see it as a way to pull in more revenue. But at virtually every turn — including in Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon and New Mexico — efforts to raise taxes on alcoholic beverages have been thwarted by the alcohol industry, a vast and powerful coalition of corporate conglomerates, mom-and-pop producers, retail stores, hospitality workers, trade associations and their lobbyists. The result is a population with mounting alcohol-related woes and an ever-cheaper, more accessible supply of drink. 

Read the rest…

In observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, First Lady Arya Ali has partnered with the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital to provide sponsorship of 1,000 mammograms for women across Guyana, her office said in a statement on Wednesday. The initiative aims to raise awareness about the importance of early detection in the fight against breast cancer, ...

“I remember a young Grenadian girl with long braids and a colourful beaded bracelet that spelled “Smile.” I was surprised when she told me she wanted to be a dentist”

View the full post Don’t give up, give back on NOW Grenada.

Does anyone here listen to Who Weekly? They sort celebrities into “Whos” (the not-as-famous) and “Thems” (the universally-well-known). So, like: RFK is a Them, while Casey and Calley Means are Whos. The study below on sense of smell and breathing made me think: What’s the Who-to-Them ranking of the five senses? First I thought smell was the Whoiest, but my editor wisely suggested touch as the sense people most often forget. Sight is the Themiest, obviously.

(Please tell me this makes sense to someone?)

A major study on infant survival and physician race is called into question

In 2020, a high-profile study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science found that Black infants were half as likely to survive to their first birthday when cared for by white doctors compared to Black ones. But a new analysis published in the same journal upends those results. Researchers found that the survival difference in the original study was almost entirely attributable to infants’ very low birth weights. Physician race still appears to play some role in infant survival, but not a statistically significant one.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Director of the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) School of Nursing in Trinidad, Dr Oscar Ocho says nurses in the Caribbean are more academically qualified but cannot put the theory into practice, resulting in the need for a study on the impact of professionalisation on the profession. “We are churning out professional nurses who ...

Egypt has been certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) – an achievement hailed by the UN public health agency as “truly historic”.

“Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Egyptian authorities launched their first efforts to stamp out the deadly mosquito-borne infectious disease nearly 100 years ago.

Certification is granted when a country proves that the transmission chain is interrupted for at least the previous three consecutive years. Malaria kills at least 600,000 people every year, nearly all of them in Africa.

In a statement on Sunday, the WHO praised “the Egyptian government and people” for their efforts to “end a disease that has been present in the country since ancient times”.

It said Egypt was the third country to be certified in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, following the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

Globally, 44 countries and one territory have reached this milestone.

But the WHO said the certification was only “the beginning of a new phase”, urging Egypt to be on the alert to preserve its malaria-free status.

To get the WHO certification, a country must demonstrate the capacity to prevent the re-establishment of transmission.

The UN public health agency said first efforts to limit human-mosquito contact in Egypt began in the 1920s when it banned rice cultivation and agricultural crops near homes.

Malaria is caused by a complex parasite which is spread by mosquito bites.

Vaccines are now being used in some places – but monitoring the disease and avoiding mosquito bites are the most effective ways to prevent malaria.

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