Minister for Hospital Services Hon. Delma Thomas and Permanent Secretary Hannah Julien-St Paul made special hospital visits over the holidays to help bring some cheer to both staff and patients.
They visited the General Hospital on Christmas morning and the Princess Alice Hospital on Boxing Day.
On Sunday, the top officials returned to the general hospital’s lab, bearing gifts and words of encouragement to the medical practitioners there.
The staffers at the lab have been working extended hours over the last few weeks to conduct and manage the extended testing for COVID 19 that has been underway recently.
“We appreciate the hard work and dedication of our healthcare workers,” Minister Thomas said on a Facebook posting soon after the visit.
“We have been truly amazed and inspired by the dedication these workers have shown. The entire nation must be proud of all of them. They have been called to national duty in an unprecedented way, and they have not let us down,” she said afterward in an interview.
Minister Thomas was also asked to comment on the general idea of the visits.
“We thought that it was important during this special period to show our personal gratitude for the efforts the workers in our public health system have undertaken in what has been a most difficult year,” Thomas said.
“We also wanted to visit with the patients and to remind them all that they remain always in our thoughts and prayers,” she added.
During the visit to Princess Alice on Boxing Day, the Minister joined the staff in sharing lunch.
