The call for an ambulance boat to transport emergency patients to Peebles Hospital on the main island of Tortola has long been made by the people of Virgin Gorda. Photo: VINO/File

Chairman of the board of the BVI Health Services Authority Bishop John I. Cline said that while his office has no authority over the repairs being done to the medical boat, which was provided by Government, it is in the process of working out an alternative arrangement which is to come into effect by the end of January 2013. Photo: Facebook

Minister for Education and Culture, Hon. Myron V. Walwyn had said the people of Virgin Gorda deserve better and they must get better. Photo:VINO/File

This is according to Chairman of the Board of the BVI Health Services Authority Bishop John I. Cline. He said that while his office has no authority over the repairs being done to the medical boat, which was provided by Government, they are in the process of working out an alternative arrangement which is to come into effect by the end of January 2013.

He said that repairs are still not complete on the engine of the Government’s boat which cost was said to be in the vicinity of $40, 000, a cost which was highly questionable by residents who opined that it would have been more feasible to purchase a new boat.

Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Carolyn Stoutt-Igwe, had confirmed also that contact was finally made with one of the technicians who had indicated that there was no progress. She told Virgin Islands News Online that no further update would have been available before the end of January 2013.

But Bishop Cline said Government could not afford to sit back and leave the needs of patients for emergency transport to Peebles Hospital on Tortola at risk. He disclosed that they have since explored the possibility of contracting the services of a privately owned ferry to fill the gap while they wait for the government designated boat.

“We are presently reviewing the proposals from two private ferry owners and we have a meeting scheduled for the 22^nd of this month and I am sure a decision would be made at that time,” said the BVIHSA Board Chairman. 

He assured that the proposals are not from the public ferry services and will be suitable for transporting patients and that when selected; they will be ensuring that the boat is adequately equipped and furnished for medical transfer by water.

Meantime, patients are still subjected to being transported from Virgin Gorda over to Tortola on the public ferry boats. Bishop Cline said he was not in a position to comment on the frequency of this since that information was not at his disposal at the time of the interview with Virgin Islands News Online.

The concern of this status of the medical boat for Virgin Gorda as provided by government was an issue raised at the fifth sitting of the Second Session of the Second House of Assembly on December 18, 2012 by Minister of Education and Culture Honourable Myron V. Walwyn.

See previous story posted on December 20, 2012

VG not having an ambulance boat is unacceptable- Hon. Walwyn 

Minister for Education and Culture Hon. Myron V. Walwyn has added his voice in support of the people of Virgin Gorda receiving a boat to transport sick persons to the Peebles Hospital as soon as possible.

The Hon. Minister made his appeal during the recently held budget debates during the Fifth Sitting of the Second Session of the Second House of Assembly on December 18, 2012.

While praising his colleague, Minister for Health and Social Development Hon. Ronnie W. Skelton, he said, “I want you to continue to do a good job to get that situation in Virgin Gorda sorted out.”

The Hon. Minister for Education and Culture then questioned the occurrences of persons being transported on boats from Virgin Gorda to Tortola. “I don’t know Madam Speaker if it’s me because whenever I come down on the boat from Virgin Gorda there is somebody sick on the boat.”

He even went further by saying, “I don’t know if it’s the spirit telling me something but every time I come down from Virgin Gorda there is somebody on the boat sick.”

Hon. Walwyn related a recent travel experience while leaving the island of Virgin Gorda one night just after attending the ‘Christmas in Spanish Town’ activities. “Soon as I step on the boat, somebody there on the boat, with the drip hanging up on the door for the boat,” he told the Members of the House of Assembly.

“That thing makes me feel so bad Madam Speaker,” Hon. Walwyn said.

The Hon. Minister then asked, “What have we done with our money?”

“A country like the BVI that has enjoyed a good run for ten years at least, and you have people coming down on the back of a boat in the night with drip hanging on the door of the boat, the boat bouncing up all over the place with the sick person on the boat.”

“The people of Virgin Gorda deserve better and they must get better,” Hon. Walwyn said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the BVI Health Services, Bishop John I. Cline had promised in August 2012, a timeframe of three to six months for the boat to be ready for use. Back then, he had indicated that there was a need for repairs to the Caterpillar engine of the boat that would come at the tune of $40,000. Residents were also disturbed at this revelation, asking whether it wouldn’t have been practical to get a new boat instead.

When asked in September 2012 if the engine had already been replaced or repaired, Chairman Cline said “that concern was in the process of being addressed. When I was speaking of it I wasn’t speaking of something that was going to come, I was speaking of something that was happening.”