Dear Editor,
There have been media reports that the May Pen Hospital is facing a shortage of medical supplies and equipment and one is left to wonder exactly what is happening in the nation's public hospitals.
According to the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association head, he has in fact received several reports of a shortage of medical supplies facing many hospitals across the country.
It is highly imperative that Minister Fenton Ferguson informs the country of the facts relating to the shortage of medical supplies and equipment negatively affecting the country and broadly impacting all users of publicly operated health centres and hospitals. We cannot tolerate a situation whereby hospitals are being vastly affected by various medical supplies not being in stock.
Minister Ferguson has a distinct responsibility to ensure that the country's hospitals have adequate medical supplies and related equipment, and if not, immediately seek the required funding and allocation that will allow them to be properly equipped and stocked with the necessary medical supplies.
This situation is disgraceful, reprehensible and outrageous, and yet the Government has the audacity to be holding an enquiry into the Tivoli Gardens security operation in May 2010, costing taxpayers over $300 million which the country just cannot afford at this time. That sum could have been better spent with allocations to some of the country's hospitals which are experiencing a shortage of medication of all sorts.
The minister of health additionally should take a detailed look at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH). For, far too many people have been bitterly complaining that they have to be waiting for hours upon hours before being able to see a doctor in the casualty department of the hospital. I am aware of one person who waited some seven hours in the CRH's casuality department before being attended to by a doctor. This is patently scandalous, to say the least. The action of Minister Ferguson is required.
Jamaica requires an equipped, efficient and inherently professional public health sector of an advanced standard. The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association must be extremely vocal in demanding that the minister and Government effectively tackle the shortages within hospitals and inform the country of the true state of affairs for accountability and transparency.
Robert Dalley
St James
robertdalley1@hotmail.com
Ja's health sector need attention
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There have been media reports that the May Pen Hospital is facing a shortage of medical supplies and equipment and one is left to wonder exactly what is happening in the nation's public hospitals.
According to the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association head, he has in fact received several reports of a shortage of medical supplies facing many hospitals across the country.
It is highly imperative that Minister Fenton Ferguson informs the country of the facts relating to the shortage of medical supplies and equipment negatively affecting the country and broadly impacting all users of publicly operated health centres and hospitals. We cannot tolerate a situation whereby hospitals are being vastly affected by various medical supplies not being in stock.
Minister Ferguson has a distinct responsibility to ensure that the country's hospitals have adequate medical supplies and related equipment, and if not, immediately seek the required funding and allocation that will allow them to be properly equipped and stocked with the necessary medical supplies.
This situation is disgraceful, reprehensible and outrageous, and yet the Government has the audacity to be holding an enquiry into the Tivoli Gardens security operation in May 2010, costing taxpayers over $300 million which the country just cannot afford at this time. That sum could have been better spent with allocations to some of the country's hospitals which are experiencing a shortage of medication of all sorts.
The minister of health additionally should take a detailed look at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH). For, far too many people have been bitterly complaining that they have to be waiting for hours upon hours before being able to see a doctor in the casualty department of the hospital. I am aware of one person who waited some seven hours in the CRH's casuality department before being attended to by a doctor. This is patently scandalous, to say the least. The action of Minister Ferguson is required.
Jamaica requires an equipped, efficient and inherently professional public health sector of an advanced standard. The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association must be extremely vocal in demanding that the minister and Government effectively tackle the shortages within hospitals and inform the country of the true state of affairs for accountability and transparency.
Robert Dalley
St James
robertdalley1@hotmail.com
Ja's health sector need attention
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