Tufton calls for audit of Enhanced Healthcare Delivery Product

WESTERN BUREAU: Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has announced plans to conduct an audit of the Enhanced Healthcare Delivery Product, in response to frequent complaints from patients about equipment failure when they seek treatment for certain illnesses.

Speaking today during the official launch of the Ministry of Health's Compassionate Care Programme for the Cambridge Health Centre in Cambridge, St James, Tufton said that the audit is necessary due to his concern that the programme, a public-private partnership arrangement which was launched in 2019, may be susceptible to being abused.

"Three years on, I must say I am of the view that the programme has provided badly needed relief to thousands of Jamaicans, as 139,000 Jamaicans have benefitted from the outsourcing diagnostics over that period. I am of the belief that this system has outlived its useful purpose in many ways. I think it is also potentially the subject of abuse, and we are going to have to deal with it," said Tufton.

"In fact, I have asked the permanent secretary to write to the auditor general to do an audit of the programme, because I need to satisfy myself that the programme is not being abused. Part of that audit is going to have to be, (for example), if you have a new CT scan or a new x-ray machine, what is the service level arrangement that you have in place to deal with that? Why would it be breaking down so often as reported by patients?"

The programme is designed to outsource diagnostic services, such as CT scans or MRI tests, to private medical facilities so that patients can receive more streamlined healthcare delivery at a reasonable pace and reduce wait-times.

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