Dumping relatives at hospitals goes against the spirit of Christmas - Tufton

Health minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, is appealing to Jamaicans not to use public hospitals as holding facilities for their elderly relatives over the Christmas holidays. 

Tufton said such actions are not in keeping with the spirit of the season, noting that hospitals are not daycare or night care facilities. 

“Part of our cultural practice is for some loved ones or guardians to drop their relatives to the hospital, which under the public health act is a place of safety. We can't put people out on the street and we don't put people out on the street as legally and morally, it would be a wrong thing to do and so Jamaicans take advantage of that by dropping their relatives at the hospital door and leaving them there in order for them to have a hassle free festive season,” he said at an end of year press conference on Thursday. 

He reasoned that Jamaicans who are considered social cases in hospitals take up bed spaces and they have to be fed and examined by doctors. 

“It deprives those who are genuinely ill from being served. I want to make an appeal again to the public to make some alternative arrangements. More often than not, they are senior citizens who may have lived their lives supporting those who are now responsible for them, and that kind of treatment betrays, I think, the responsibility that you have. We want to discourage that because it is not a good practice,” the health minister said. 

It is estimated that one social case can prevent admission of at least 49 patients in any one year. 

Meanwhile, Tufton said during the festive season, the clinical staff in hospitals release patients who are not considered critical. 

“In the judgement of the clinician, if that sickness is not life threatening and there is a need to preserve a bed for the anticipated emergency cases, which normally spike during this season, then the decision is always from the senior medical officer and the chief executive officer to release persons and that is likely to happen again this year. 

"So Jamaicans needs to prepare themselves for that if they have persons in hospital who could easily be treated at home or guided remotely,” he explained. 

Tufton said an average of 3,241 beds have been occupied over the past seven days, representing about 60 to 70 percent of total capacity. 

- Judana Murphy

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