May Pen patients still sleeping in wheelchairs, doctor renews call to ease overcrowding

Danae Hyman, Online Reporter

A Clarendon health official is renewing a call for urgent measures to ease the overcrowding at the May Pen Hospital.

Two years ago, the situation at the May Pen Hospital attracted national attention following reports that patients were sleeping on stretchers and in wheelchairs because of chronic overcrowding.

At the time, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton promised to improve the infrastructure at the central Jamaica hospital.

 "We will be sending the architects and the other professionals and we’re going to find the budget. We’ll be doing the work to upgrade the hospital; this will mean added rooms, added infrastructure and a better responsive system," Tufton was quoted as saying in an April 22, 2017 story posted on the website of the Jamaica Information Service.

But two medical officials say since then, little has changed.

"We really need to build here," said one senior medical doctor who asked not to be named.

The doctor said over the past two years, the hospital has received additional supplies like portable screens and stretchers but even they are now inadequate.

"They easily diminish especially since we have to be admitting patients on the stretchers due to lack of bed space," the senior doctor said.

Another official concurred.

In the meantime, a section of the accident and emergency unit at the May Pen Hospital is now being used as a designated ward.

This has significantly restricted the space available to accommodate people who turn up at the facility for urgent care.

The doctor said, the emergency unit which is designed to house eight patients has been accommodating up to 40 patients at a time.

When contacted, Tufton, referred The Gleaner to the Southern  Regional Health Authority for more information. 

The region's public relations officer Latoya Laylor-Brown, conceded that overcrowding was a major issue at the May Pen Hospital adding that the hospital upgrade was still on track.

"I cannot give a time line. However, one of the measures employed includes the transfer of patients to sister hospitals in the region, to counter the overcrowding,” Laylor-Brown said.

She also said the staff does its best to handle the overcrowding situation.

The Accident and Emergency Department of the May Pen Hospital caters to about 100 patients a day.

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