Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis: The J.N.F. General Hospital has upgraded its biosafety cabinet for mixing chemotherapy medication. This upgrade is part of the hospital’s ongoing commitment to providing the best care possible to cancer patients and ensuring the safety of staff.
The Bio Safety Cabinet was upgraded from a Class II Type A cabinet to a Class III cabinet that provides a sterile environment for the preparation of chemotherapy medications. This cabinet utilizes HEPA filtration to remove airborne particles and contaminants, ensuring the safety of the chemotherapy medication and the staff working with it.
“We are pleased to be able to provide this upgraded Bio Safety Cabinet to our staff and patients,” said Dr. Sharon Archibald, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health. “Ensuring their safety of is of utmost importance to us, and this upgrade is just one of the many steps we are taking to transform healthcare in the federation.”
The upgraded Bio Safety Cabinet was commissioned on Friday, 17th February 2023 and is already in use by the staff of the Oncology Department of the hospital. The upgrading of the cabinet will further ensure that all staff members handling and preparing chemotherapy medications, can continue to do so in a safe environment.
“We definitely saw the need to improve in multiple areas of the hospital and one of the areas we were able to that with was in the Oncology Unit.” said Director of Heath Institutions, Dr. Jenson Morton. “We were able to upgrade the type of cabinet that is used for this function from a Class II cabinet to a Class III cabinet which can allow us to work more efficiently in that department and which can improve the overall quality of outcome for both the patients as well as the staff members that work in the oncology unit.”
The J.N.F. General Hospital is a leading healthcare institution on the federation and is dedicated to providing high-quality, care to its patients. With the upgraded Bio Safety Cabinet for mixing chemotherapy medication, the hospital is better equipped than ever to provide safe and effective treatment to cancer patients.