JAMAICA | Fix the dehumanising conditions in our hospitals Guy tells Tufton

Kingston, Jamaica. August 14, 2023: Opposition Spokesperson on Health and Wellness, Dr. Morais Guy, wants Health  Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton, to urgently address the unhealthy and dehumanising conditions at many of the island’s hospitals, especially the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) where admitted patients are now lying on floors and chairs to access hospital care.

In a statement the Opposition Spokesman said the situation has been deteriorating over the past few months, despite his call during his Sectoral Presentation in May for the Minister to visit hospital wards to see firsthand patient facilities and the poor condition of some wards. 

He says he is receiving more reports of patients sleeping on floors and using out-of-service toilets and bathrooms.

Dr. Guy said the Minister has a high propensity to flood his social media platforms with photographs and text with glowing reports about the Ministry’s operations, yet consistently ignores the plight of patients in many hospitals.

“Recently, he glowingly reported on the commendable progress in the construction of the Adolescent Hospital on the same property as CRH while ignoring poor patient care in that hospital”, Dr. Guy said.

The Opposition Spokesman stated that the conditions could not be blamed on the Regional Health Authorities as the Minister is head of the public health care system and ought to be more closely monitoring health care delivery. 

He said in May, he told Dr. Tufton of the problems being experienced by most of the population in accessing hospital care, yet he has failed to take any action to improve the situation for the users, who are mainly poor Jamaicans.

Among the issues pointed out at that time, he said, was overcrowding and shortages of beds and mattresses, as a review by his Ministry had shown an average of 300-500 shortfall of beds for clients waiting in Emergency Rooms across Jamaica.

Dr. Guy calls the present conditions unacceptable and said the Minister should cease the public relations stance, visit hospital wards and ensure that the citizens of Jamaica are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve in the public health care system.

In the meantime, Portfolio Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton says his ministry has allocated $500 million to each of the four Regional Health Authorities (RHAs), for infrastructure improvement and equipment replacement.

Tufton, who made the disclosure on August 15, at a Service Level Agreement and Medical Equipment Maintenance Policy signing ceremony, said the funds are earmarked for two health facilities per Region, one primary and one secondary.

Dr. Tufton said the maintenance agreement, which was signed by the Heads of the four RHAs and the Ministry, is part of measures to minimise the downtime of operations in the public health system, due to defective machines and air-conditioning units.

He emphasised that as the Government expands health facilities, this must be accompanied with what is necessary to ensure “a total life-cycle philosophy,” where “everything that we put in place for public health, it must have an expected lifecycle performance, and it must be maintained, and this is what the policy is.”

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