Dear Editor,
I think many of us are agreed that Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson must not only be fired but leave politics all together. His attitude and ability are repulsive and frightening.
It simply cannot be OK for 18 babies to have died and another 42 infected from what is suspected to be the Klebsiella and Serratia bugs that contaminated the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of the West Indies and Cornwall Regional hospitals, and the Ministry of Health responds only when stories about the crisis are made public.
Are we to believe that senior ministry and other medical personnel were not aware of this very dangerous situation from July 2015? Are we to believe that the media house became aware before the minister? And what should the mothers and fathers of infected and dead babies make of the ministry's delay and the publishing of a photo with Ferguson meeting with health officials? My God, the cold-blooded insensitivity is astounding!
The Ministry of Health has now developed a reputation for being absolutely incompetent, soulless and completely out of touch with what is happening in our public health sector. All the ministry seems to do well is focus on public relations initiatives aimed at propping up its minister and shielding officials from criticism. They are no different from the handlers of Kim Jong-un of North Korea -- no heart, no soul, lots of pomp and pageantry, and ever loving the spotlight.
A complete shake-up is needed now. Fenton Ferguson, the Permanent Secretary Dr Kevin Harvey, Senior Medical Officer Marion Bullock-Ducasse, and cheerleader SERHA Chairman Dr Andrei Cooke need to be removed from their roles. They have failed us Jamaicans -- the deadly and painful chikungunya epidemic, the hand foot and mouth disease ordeal, the disastrous state of our public health facilities, and the over-reliance on PR over hard work and competence is too much to bear. With babies now dying it cannot be allowed to get any worse.
I weep for my country.
Christina Lawson
Kingston 6
Lawson8christina
@hotmail.com
Health ministry on PR campaign while babies die
-->
I think many of us are agreed that Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson must not only be fired but leave politics all together. His attitude and ability are repulsive and frightening.
It simply cannot be OK for 18 babies to have died and another 42 infected from what is suspected to be the Klebsiella and Serratia bugs that contaminated the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of the West Indies and Cornwall Regional hospitals, and the Ministry of Health responds only when stories about the crisis are made public.
Are we to believe that senior ministry and other medical personnel were not aware of this very dangerous situation from July 2015? Are we to believe that the media house became aware before the minister? And what should the mothers and fathers of infected and dead babies make of the ministry's delay and the publishing of a photo with Ferguson meeting with health officials? My God, the cold-blooded insensitivity is astounding!
The Ministry of Health has now developed a reputation for being absolutely incompetent, soulless and completely out of touch with what is happening in our public health sector. All the ministry seems to do well is focus on public relations initiatives aimed at propping up its minister and shielding officials from criticism. They are no different from the handlers of Kim Jong-un of North Korea -- no heart, no soul, lots of pomp and pageantry, and ever loving the spotlight.
A complete shake-up is needed now. Fenton Ferguson, the Permanent Secretary Dr Kevin Harvey, Senior Medical Officer Marion Bullock-Ducasse, and cheerleader SERHA Chairman Dr Andrei Cooke need to be removed from their roles. They have failed us Jamaicans -- the deadly and painful chikungunya epidemic, the hand foot and mouth disease ordeal, the disastrous state of our public health facilities, and the over-reliance on PR over hard work and competence is too much to bear. With babies now dying it cannot be allowed to get any worse.
I weep for my country.
Christina Lawson
Kingston 6
Lawson8christina
@hotmail.com
Health ministry on PR campaign while babies die
-->