In order to better manage the hospital's limited resources, medical professionals at Victoria Hospital have planned an aggressive education and sensitization campaign that encourages the public to take increased responsibility for their health.

Over the past years, the hospital has witnessed an increase in patients with non-communicable diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The disease, which affects the lungs, cannot be reversed. Patients suffer from breathlessness which at times can be so crippling that they are unable to perform basic tasks.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), early interventions such as these, that focus on reducing the common modifiable risk factors associated with such diseases (like tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and the harmful use of alcohol) are excellent economic investments because they can reduce the need for more expensive treatments.

VH Medical Director Dr. Lisa Charles hopes that the public education and sensitization campaign will save lives and reduce the hospital's financial burden.

According to Consultant Physician at Victoria Hospital, Dr. Martin Didier, many COPD patients who seek treatment at Victoria Hospital are solely dependent on the hospital and lack the family and financial support needed to cover their medical expenses.

"The patients who seek treatment at Victoria Hospital began smoking in their early teens, and by their late twenties and early thirties they are respiratory cripples. They cannot breathe without medication and oxygen; they cannot go to the bathroom; they cannot sleep. They spend their time just trying to get their breath," he said.

Dr. Charles said that available bed space is also severely compromised as a result of this increasing trend.

"We have what we call a revolving-door population of close to 15 or 20 end-stage COPD patients," she said. "They come to the A&E daily or weekly because their disease is so far progressed that they need that level and that frequency of attention. We also have patients who have lived at VH for the last several months. They need continuous oxygen and full care."

COPD patient Agustin Joseph who has witnessed the death of at least nine fellow COPD patients, appealed to the youth to stop smoking as he struggled to breathe.

"I really want to send a message out there to tell them stop smoking. Look at how it has affected me. If I had seen one person like me before, I would never get so deep into it; or if I had known the damage it was doing or if I had known I would have been like this one day, I would have never smoked marijuana and tobacco. The mixture of marijuana and tobacco is a deadly weapon."