KPH Celebrates 248 Years

The Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) is one of the country’s most critical healthcare institutions, serving more than 20,000 in-patients and 300,000 outpatients each year, and has proven to be one of the premier trauma hospitals on the island.

It shares a campus with the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH), the largest referral maternity hospital in the English-Speaking Caribbean, at its North Street location in Kingston.

This year, the KPH is celebrating 248 years of service in the public health sector.

Consultant Emergency Physician at the KPH, Dr. Hugh Wong, who started his journey as an intern at the facility in 1996, tells JIS News that the institution has played a very important role within the structure of the public health system.

“It would be very difficult for health services to manage [without the KPH],” he states.

The Emergency Department at the facility, provides treatment for injuries ranging from gunshot wounds and stabbings to motor-vehicle crashes and other emergency cases.

Annual data on the number of trauma cases indicate that in 2017, the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department treated 2,041 patients; 2018, 2,266 patients; 2019, 2,453 patients; 2020, 1,981 patients; 2021, 1,962 patients; 2022, 1,641 patients; and in 2023, 1,118 patients.

“I think what happens is that we see a lot of traumas. I don’t think we have any formal trauma unit anywhere in Jamaica. We tend to see a lot of traumas, so our staff develop a level of expertise in managing trauma,” Dr. Wong says.

While the hospital treats several trauma cases, it also handles a number of medical cases such as cardiac illnesses.

Other services provided at the KPH include Medical and Surgery, Physiotherapy, Dietary, Radiotherapy, Faciomaxillary, General and emergency surgery, Neurosurgery, Rheumatology, Ear Nose and Throat Surgery, Urology, Orthopaedic, Anaesthesia and intensive care, Pain management, Gastroenterology, Haematology, Oncology, Nephrology dialysis, Neurology, and Endocrinology.

“KPH serves a wide cross section of persons; it’s not just the communities that surround the hospital. It is a national hospital and also the region [and] because of this, we see a wide range of illnesses. The KPH also has an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) which is limited in the services offered, but it does offer that level of care for persons that need it,” Dr. Wong states.

In recognition of the hospital’s significance to the public healthcare system, the Government has given approval for infrastructure improvement works to be undertaken at the facility.

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, has announced that rehabilitation works have started on the KPH’s existing structure and will intensify during the year.

The Health Minister says a comprehensive technical review of the infrastructure for both KPH and VJH will be undertaken, as well as a comprehensive electrical rehabilitation of the facility, at an estimated cost of $300 million.

The Hospital is managed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), which is responsible for the delivery of health care services to the residents of St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Kingston and St. Andrew.

This represents almost 50 per cent (approximately 1.2 million) of the population of Jamaica.