Golding calls for data, probe on oxygen crisis
Published:Monday | September 6, 2021 | 9:35 AM
Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding is calling for the Ministry of Health and Wellness to publish data on deaths that occurred during the height of the oxygen shortage at public hospitals.
Golding says the data should cover the numbers of COVID and non-COVID patients who died between Friday, August 27 and Monday, August 30 and at what hospitals.
He is arguing that the oxygen crisis has had devastating effects on the country's healthcare system over the past week.
Jamaica is currently in a third wave of COVID-19 which has seen a spike in infections, deaths, and hospitalisation.
The Opposition leader points out that there have been reports of patients being manually ventilated with masks and ambu bags, which are popularly referred to as bagging, and of others, including a pregnant woman and her baby, who reportedly died as a result of the lack of oxygen.
Golding says Jamaicans are deeply concerned about the number of deaths that occurred over the period for which there was an oxygen shortage.
That's why he is also calling for an urgent, transparent and independent investigation into the circumstances which led to these deaths.
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