While the hospital's hyperbaric decompression equipment could not have prevented the tragic death of Belco worker Malik Blyden last month, it is a critical link in the the Island's health care system.

A number of local staff recently underwent training on the equipment and their course designer paid a visit to the facility, The Royal Gazette was told.

Dr. Edward Schultz director of emergency services at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) said burn patients who have burns to the face and hands can be treated locally and helped by the equipment.

"(But), when a patient is burned so severely, we send them to a burn treatment centre in the United States for care," said Dr. Schultz. "The young man had electrical burns to his body."

Dr. Schultz said that the hyperbaric and Wound Care Department deals primarily with patients who had the bends, patients who were suffering from ulcers caused by diabetes and quadriplegics and paraplegics afflicted with bedsores.

"Some patients suffering from ulcers do not have to get their limbs removed," said Dr. Schultz of its benefits.

Dick Clarke, programme director of Hyperbaric Medicine at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital, South Carolina, who visited the hospital's staff in the Hyperbaric and Wound Care Department, was impressed with the facility.

Mr. Clarke came to the Island to see students who had qualified through his internationally recognised certification programme as hyperbaric technicians.

Mr. Clarke said: "I'm glad to see how it is working and I am glad to have met the staff at KEMH and to have viewed the practical application of techniques I had developed."

Mr. Clarke first visited Bermuda in the 1960's when he was a diver with the Royal Navy, and is also a hyperbaric consultant to the Divers Alert Network (DAN), a non-profit organisation that provides 24-hour advice and assistance in diving emergencies.

DAN facilitates numerous hyperbaric medical training courses affiliated through Duke University's Centre for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology located in North Carolina.

Dr. Schultz has trained to become a hyperbaric consultant as well and was delighted Mr. Clarke is paying the hospital a visit.

"It is really an honour to have such an experienced hyperbaric specialist visit us," said Dr. Schultz.

"Our staff have gained much valuable knowledge, which we apply daily in the treatment of patients, from the courses and training Mr. Clarke has directed at Columbia, South Carolina."

KEMH operates a "multiplace" hyperbaric chamber, which can treat up to eight patients at a time, unlike the monoplace hyperbaric chambers, which only seat one person at a time.

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society has approved the application of hyperbaric oxygen, which induces new cell growth in areas of poor circulation.

It is used in the treatment of 13 specific conditions including diving accidents, compromised skin grafts, problematic wounds where there has been inadequate arterial supply, carbon monoxide poisoning and burns injuries.

Since 2000, KEMH has been recognised by DAN as part of its International Preferred Provider Network, which means the hospital is an approved provider of medical assistance to divers who are in need of treatment.

A Bermudian nurse, Lorraine Beasley, who became certified through a programme said she got involved after her brother almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

"They have great results and it was amazing to see how wounds that previously wouldn't have healed, were now healing," she said.