Dear Editor,
It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce the passing of the People's National Party's ability to administer health care to the people of Jamaica. For more than three years the health care portfolio has languished on life support as the standing minister with responsibility for the critical portfolio stumbles about in a clueless haze.
Government has a responsibility to provide for the education, security and health of its citizens and while most of us are aware of the constraints, the management of the health portfolio leaves everything to be desired. The handling of the CHIKV epidemic is still fresh in the minds and bodies of many Jamaicans as the ministry failed miserably at managing not only the spread of the virus, but also the communication regarding its transmission. While CHIKV raged, we were greeted with a multiplicity of reports of patient deaths at hospital facilities during that same period, which fuelled public perception that the island's public health care facilities were death traps.
This perception has not been helped by the publication, a week ago, by the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association President Dr Alfred Dawes of the inhumane conditions at hospitals, with doctors not having the most basic work equipment, including surgical aprons, sterilising disposable surgical equipment for re-use, or not having basic material and equipment to properly sterilise operating facilities.
Then there was the case of the ministry's senior public health officer communicating to the nation, while the fire at the Riverton dump raged for over two straight weeks dumping immeasurable amounts of toxic smoke and ashes on sections of the Corporate Area and St Catherine, that there would be no effect. Dr Bullock-Ducasse, in her position as spokesperson for the ministry advised Jamaicans that the smoke was virtually harmless to Jamaicans effectively masking the dangers from long-term exposure to the toxic smoke. Despite the views expressed by more knowledgeable professionals who have produced damning scientific evidence to counter the 'gaffe', no attempt has been made by the ministry to walk back the rubbish. Once again, Dr Fenton Ferguson's ministry has failed the country in its management and execution of public policy.
This past week we were greeted with more bad news in the sector with the revelation that statutory and other deductions taken from the pay cheques of health care workers were not being remitted to the designated receiving agencies to the detriment of workers whose benefits are affected by the tardiness. I won't even get into the long-standing issue of remuneration.
Why is Fenton Ferguson still occupying this position of minister of health as his stewardship hangs around the neck of the party like a dead albatross? I believe that based on Ferguson's handling of the portfolio, the life support system has been turned off anyone can see that, in terms of the management of the portfolio, there is a vacancy for a minister of health.
Richard Hugh Blackford
Coral Springs, Florida, USA
richardhblackford@gmail.com
Needed: A health minister
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It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce the passing of the People's National Party's ability to administer health care to the people of Jamaica. For more than three years the health care portfolio has languished on life support as the standing minister with responsibility for the critical portfolio stumbles about in a clueless haze.
Government has a responsibility to provide for the education, security and health of its citizens and while most of us are aware of the constraints, the management of the health portfolio leaves everything to be desired. The handling of the CHIKV epidemic is still fresh in the minds and bodies of many Jamaicans as the ministry failed miserably at managing not only the spread of the virus, but also the communication regarding its transmission. While CHIKV raged, we were greeted with a multiplicity of reports of patient deaths at hospital facilities during that same period, which fuelled public perception that the island's public health care facilities were death traps.
This perception has not been helped by the publication, a week ago, by the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association President Dr Alfred Dawes of the inhumane conditions at hospitals, with doctors not having the most basic work equipment, including surgical aprons, sterilising disposable surgical equipment for re-use, or not having basic material and equipment to properly sterilise operating facilities.
Then there was the case of the ministry's senior public health officer communicating to the nation, while the fire at the Riverton dump raged for over two straight weeks dumping immeasurable amounts of toxic smoke and ashes on sections of the Corporate Area and St Catherine, that there would be no effect. Dr Bullock-Ducasse, in her position as spokesperson for the ministry advised Jamaicans that the smoke was virtually harmless to Jamaicans effectively masking the dangers from long-term exposure to the toxic smoke. Despite the views expressed by more knowledgeable professionals who have produced damning scientific evidence to counter the 'gaffe', no attempt has been made by the ministry to walk back the rubbish. Once again, Dr Fenton Ferguson's ministry has failed the country in its management and execution of public policy.
This past week we were greeted with more bad news in the sector with the revelation that statutory and other deductions taken from the pay cheques of health care workers were not being remitted to the designated receiving agencies to the detriment of workers whose benefits are affected by the tardiness. I won't even get into the long-standing issue of remuneration.
Why is Fenton Ferguson still occupying this position of minister of health as his stewardship hangs around the neck of the party like a dead albatross? I believe that based on Ferguson's handling of the portfolio, the life support system has been turned off anyone can see that, in terms of the management of the portfolio, there is a vacancy for a minister of health.
Richard Hugh Blackford
Coral Springs, Florida, USA
richardhblackford@gmail.com
Needed: A health minister
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