Dear Editor,
In a state of utter shock, I saw Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson on TV during a tour of Bellevue Hospital defending his stewardship of the public health sector. He boasted of attending many international conferences and being involved in global conversations about universal health care.
I urge Dr Ferguson to wake up and smell the coffee. No amount of PR can mask the realities in Jamaica's health sector. The Bellevue Hospital is in a state of crisis and incredible injustice ie being meted out to a vulnerable and often neglected group of Jamaicans. The minister is clearly operating in the clouds and doesn't seem to yet have an appreciation of the problems besetting the entire public health system.
Just recently the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, the largest maternity hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean, ran out of water; leading many of its employees to protest in disgust. This reflects on you as minister.
Just around the same time, the University Hospital of the West Indies pointed out that several of their operating theatres will have to be shut down because of air-condition problems. This, Dr Ferguson, reflects on you as minister.
And on top of these, there are cases everywhere of elevators breaking down; sterilisation services not being available; a major shortage of intravenous fluids; doctors, nurses and other health professionals getting their salaries and allowances short; not enough beds at some hospitals; lax security arrangements; management failings; overworked doctors and nurses; and on and on it goes.
Dr Ferguson clearly cannot manage and must do the honourable thing and let the government quickly find someone who can "tun dem hand mek fashion".
Dr Pauline McKenzie
Jamaica Healthcare Workers Caucus
Kingston 19
paulinmckenzie@gmail.comDr Fenton Ferguson cannot manage health sector
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In a state of utter shock, I saw Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson on TV during a tour of Bellevue Hospital defending his stewardship of the public health sector. He boasted of attending many international conferences and being involved in global conversations about universal health care.
I urge Dr Ferguson to wake up and smell the coffee. No amount of PR can mask the realities in Jamaica's health sector. The Bellevue Hospital is in a state of crisis and incredible injustice ie being meted out to a vulnerable and often neglected group of Jamaicans. The minister is clearly operating in the clouds and doesn't seem to yet have an appreciation of the problems besetting the entire public health system.
Just recently the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, the largest maternity hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean, ran out of water; leading many of its employees to protest in disgust. This reflects on you as minister.
Just around the same time, the University Hospital of the West Indies pointed out that several of their operating theatres will have to be shut down because of air-condition problems. This, Dr Ferguson, reflects on you as minister.
And on top of these, there are cases everywhere of elevators breaking down; sterilisation services not being available; a major shortage of intravenous fluids; doctors, nurses and other health professionals getting their salaries and allowances short; not enough beds at some hospitals; lax security arrangements; management failings; overworked doctors and nurses; and on and on it goes.
Dr Ferguson clearly cannot manage and must do the honourable thing and let the government quickly find someone who can "tun dem hand mek fashion".
Dr Pauline McKenzie
Jamaica Healthcare Workers Caucus
Kingston 19
paulinmckenzie@gmail.comDr Fenton Ferguson cannot manage health sector
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