Tidy up UHWI access road

By Garth A. Rattray

It all began when a few discrete vendors set up 'businesses' on the vacant land opposite the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) more than 30 years ago. Passers-by found the cool beverages and little snacks a convenient way to quench their thirst and satisfy hunger as they travelled on their way to and fro.

Students and staff, ranging from ancillary workers to doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians who work 24- and 48-hour shifts, came to depend on the readily accessible refreshments for sustenance at all hours of the day and night.

However, as has become the norm in a society such as ours, where indiscipline, corruption, unaccountability and politicking are the order of the day, the few stalls grew into larger and more elaborate cardboard and wooden structures.

Eventually, those transformed into unregulated concrete edifices with commercial and domiciliary units and 'entertainment centres' devoid of proper infrastructure or sanitation on a main, busy and essential thoroughfare in full view of the authorities.

Chaos reigns

Now, the well-established community has grown immensely, become ensconced and encroached on the sidewalk meant solely for the safety and protection of pedestrian traffic. It no longer matters that the areas surrounding the hospital are supposed to be silent zones; dancehall music often blares into the early morning from nightspots and invades the precincts of the hospital where the sick and suffering are being attended to.

Waste liquids are disposed of on the side of the road and macerate the asphalt until the surface is filled with dangerous potholes that have to be repeatedly repaired. Sometimes objects are placed in the roadway to prevent motorists from accidentally splashing the vendors if they drive into puddles of liquid discharged by the very same vendors.

Pedestrians and the physically challenged from nearby dwellings must risk life and limb by navigating the numerous obstacles and holes, and community residents and playing children who flit around the various entrances to the shops.

The roadway in front of the hospital is abuzz with commercial activity, including buses of various sizes and route taxis that commandeer the hospital entrance and exit by turning in them and stopping to let off and pick up fares. Their quest for an income usurps any consideration for the safe and easy access that every hospital should have.

Traffic hazard

Some busmen park proximal to the exit to await passengers. Loader men ply their trade totally oblivious of motorists attempting to leave the premises. The traffic problems are compounded by a municipal bus shed that has been erroneously placed much too near to the exit of the hospital. Add to that the delivery vans, carrying fresh stock, which park on the roadside, effectively choking one lane.

Getting in and out of the property is often a prodigious task attended by an increased risk of collision.

I am absolutely certain that, because of the congestion, compromised roadway, high pedestrian traffic and public transport activities, ambulances carrying emergencies must slow down inordinately.

The hubbub on Golding Avenue in the vicinity of the UHWI not only significantly restricts access to the premises, it also presents serious road hazards.

What I find astounding and disheartening is that the unstructured, disorganised, unregulated and obviously unapproved development that grew right in front of everyone has, for whatever reasons, been allowed to mushroom for decades.

Previous People's National Party and Jamaica Labour Party administrations have all failed to act accordingly, so I was pleased and very hopeful when, on 'CVM at Sunrise', the new member of parliament for St Andrew Eastern, André Hylton, promised to recess and organise the community in front of the hospital and to make the roadway safe and accessible. I hope that he will do this with dispatch.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com