Residents of St Ann are set to benefit from a substantial donation of equipment to the St Ann's Bay Hospital by the Ocho Rios Circuit of Baptist Churches.

The Baptist Church on Thursday donated six ECG machines to the hospital, a move which presenter, Rev Johnathan Hemmings, said would continue as the church sought to help the institution improve service to the community.

The machines are valued at $850,000 and were acquired through funds raised from the 'Jesus: Foundation of Life Crusade 2008', held in Ocho Rios in March.

good project

In making the presentation, Rev Hemmings said the church thought the hospital was a good project to contribute to and the decision was taken that "every cent" collected at the crusade would go towards it.

"We are happy we can make a contribution," he said, pointing out that the world economic crunch would inevitably affect the delivery of services at institutions such as the hospital.

Rev Hemmings pledged to make other similar interventions, which Deacon Philip Rattray of the Ocho Rios Baptist Church later revealed was the acquisition of a dialysis machine.

Deacon Rattray told The Gleaner: "We funded the crusade and we said whatever was collected in offering we would put towards the machines for the hospital. We collected about $1.55 million and the machines cost us $850,000, so we're putting the balance ($700,000) into a fund which we will put towards getting a dialysis machine."

fulfilling request

The church had initially planned to donate the dialysis machine, but decided to acquire the ECG machines first, to fulfil a request from the hospital.

Dr Horace Betton, senior medical officer at the hospital, said it was a pleasure for him to accept the gift.

In explaining the critical importance of the machines, Dr Betton said many patients could not go to the operating theatre unless they first did an ECG test.

The equipment is used to diagnose chest pains of varying types.

alleviate strain on system

The new machines will help alleviate the strain on the health system in St Ann.

Dr Betton went on to explain that the ECG machines currently being used at the St Ann's Bay Hospital will be passed over to the St Ann's Bay and Ocho Rios clinics.

The 'Jesus: Foundation of Life Crusade' was held over two weeks and was "an enormous success in terms of souls", according to Deacon Rattray.

"We had about 700 persons giving their lives and our church actually baptised 40 persons out of that crusade," he explained.

- Carl Gilchrist