Barbados donates MRI to St Vincent and the Grenadines

By Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#SaintVincent&theGrenadines, July 7, 2023  – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ Modern Medical and Diagnostics Centre, received its first MRI machine donated by Barbados-based charity, Maria Holder Memorial Trust; the centre celebrated its fifth anniversary on Thursday June 29th.

Peter Symmonds, a trustee of the Maria Holder Memorial Trust, in light of the donation, pointed out the importance of giving assistance to Caribbean countries that can’t afford to provide the necessary health services to its citizens.

“As a charitable organisation, we are aware that the provision of health care comes at a high price for some countries and some small island development states. As and this requires aid to meet these demands,” he said.

Further, in highlighting that the Trust is cognizant of the medical issues facing the region, Symmonds expressed that even though the trust is based in Barbados, it remains in the know of the challenges and the difficulties faced by eastern Caribbean countries in providing health services to its citizens.

“Nations have their borders but humanitarianism does not have boundaries; countries and peoples may be rich or poor, but each person’s right to basic health service should be equally guaranteed,” he also said.

Additionally, Symmonds spoke to the fact that despite the importance of MRIs in the medical field, it has been dubbed as too expensive by some.  However, he made sure to highlight that “the trust, our trusts, always feels that costs should not be a factor when it comes to the issue of lives of human beings.”

However, without revealing the cost of the machine, expressing that it is not cheap and can be found online, he maintained that the money was well spent, and that they are hopeful that the donation “will be most helpful, useful and beneficial to the citizens and residents of this lovely country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”

According to Health Minister Jimmy Prince, speaking at the unveiling ceremony on Thursday, the cost of bringing the MRI machine to St Vincent and the Grenadines was EC$10 million, which he says is “not the final cost”.

The Trust will continue to help St Vincent and the Grenadines by donating two ambulances to the island by the end of July, according to Symmonds.