(Jamaica Observer) The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) yesterday pleaded for more resources for the health care system, citing instances of doctors keeling over from sheer exhaustion while performing surgery.
Making a submission to a meeting of Parliament’s Sessional Select Committee on Human Resources and Social Development at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, JMDA President Dr Dayton Campbell said while the association supported the intent behind the free health care policy it could not ignore the horror stories emanating from the system.
“There are stories coming out of Cornwall [Regional Hospital] literally of doctors falling to the floor in the middle of surgery; they are literally inside somebody’s abdomen and falling to the floor because they have been up for the entire night operating and it’s just inadequate staffing of the hospitals,” he told the committee.
“The staff is extremely overworked and underpaid, which does not leave a lot of room for motivation. The workload is exhausting and equipment is lacking with ratios as bad as one nurse to 25-30 patients in some institutions. This cannot be acceptable,” he stated.
Dr Campbell, who said the association wanted it to be made “abundantly clear” that it was not attempting to shoot down the idea of the free health care policy, argued that a way should be found to improve the service as there was also discomfort among patients.
“We have numerous reports of two patients to a bed and even allegations of one woman giving birth in a wheelchair with the newborn falling to the ground. There is no way this can be quality health care,” the JMDA president told the House committee.
He said the problems now being experienced can be traced back to the fact that the infrastructural improvements and staffing needs were not addressed before the Government implemented its no-user-fee policy in 2008.
“Of the 4,500 nurses needed in the system in order to facilitate free health care there are less than 2,000 presently in the system, with only 45 of the 156 positions for pharmacists filled,” he said in support of his argument.
Dr Campbell, whose disclosure apparently did not find favour with Government committee members Franklyn Witter and Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, said as a result of the strain on the system there were limited supplies, with reports of patients being discharged with low haemoglobin levels because of the unavailability of transfusion sets and drugs, non-functioning radiologic machines, and CT-Scans among others.
In highlighting the lack of privacy and citing examples of patients sharing beds and being examined in the corridors by doctors because of spacing deficiencies, Dr Campbell disputed the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Health which showed some 75 per cent of persons saying they were impressed with the level of privacy.
“I am not sure we can give credit to that study because 104 persons is certainly not an adequate sample size to comment on something like this, because when in hospitals like KPH you have patients being seen in the corridors, I don’t know how much privacy can be gained from that,” said Dr Campbell.
He was taken to task by Witter and Bartlett for the comment. The MPs contended that Dr Campbell should provide the committee with information as to what existed in the system before the removal of the fees, leaving Campbell to query whether the association had been invited to give its honest opinion or to take sides.
