Updated | Dawes welcomes call for probe into health sector incidents

Opposition Spokesman on Health Dr Alfred Dawes says that while he welcomes Prime Minister Andrew Holness' call for an investigation into recent adverse reports concerning the health sector, such information should be readily available instead of being called for in times of crisis.

Dawes made the declaration during a press conference held on the Zoom platform this morning regarding questions on the whereabouts of 105 ventilators which were donated to Jamaica during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also called for an audit of the number of available intensive-care unit [ICU] and high-dependency unit [HDU] spaces in Jamaica.

“I welcome the call [made by Holness] because we do need to have built-in accountability in the Ministry of Health and Wellness and that never seems to be forthcoming from the fuzzy maths, the fuzzy numbers that were released, so it is a start. But it should not be as a result of a crisis that we are asking how many ICU spaces, or how many HDU spaces we have in the country,” Dawes told the briefing.

“It should be something that we can just pick up a document and know immediately, how many are functional, and that speaks to the state of accountability and support for the various hospitals in the public health system,” Dawes added.

On Tuesday, Holness ordered a probe into reports surrounding the June 11 death of a newborn at the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon, where doctors and nurses reportedly had to take turns manually ventilating the baby who was born four days earlier while seeking to transfer the child to another hospital.

The neighbouring Mandeville Regional Hospital was said to be short-staffed even though a ventilator was available there.

The call for the probe also centred around reports surrounding the death of a woman who was admitted at the Falmouth Public Hospital in Trelawny earlier this month.

The woman's family members took to social media to accuse the hospital of negligence in relation to the woman's death.

Dawes also told Wednesday's briefing that Jamaica's maternal mortality rate is a cause for deep concern, even as he stressed that the country's healthcare system is in need of an overhaul.

“Over the last eight years we have seen a steady climb in the number of mothers dying during pregnancy and delivery. The maternal mortality rate is the highest it has been in over 30 years and the neonatal mortality rate is higher today than it was 20 years ago… there are measurable consequences to the failure to implement and maintain an adequate healthcare system,” said Dawes.

- Christopher Thomas

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