'Free' health care costly at Spanish Town Hospital

THE EDITOR, Sir:

On Tuesday, April 15, 2014, an employee of our company - call him John - was admitted to Spanish Town Hospital for surgery. Because of an accident with a chainsaw, John was told that one of the tendons to his big toe had been severed and required surgery.

Three and a half weeks later, this minor surgery had still not been done despite many promises from the surgical team, so after leaving the hospital on a 'day pass' for an appointment with a private doctor, John checked out of hospital that same day.

Thanks to a benevolent orthopaedic doctor who offered to do the operation for the much-reduced amount covered by our health insurance, John was able to have the surgery done in the doctor's office on Tuesday, May 13, one month after being admitted to hospital.

COMPLICATIONS

The surgery proved to be far more complicated than anticipated because of the length of time the patient had been made to wait, as well as the fact that there were other injuries not reported by the public-health doctors at Spanish Town Hospital. These complications require that John now wears a leg cast for six weeks, and a leg brace for a further period afterwards, not to mention the corrective physiotherapy that will be required as a result.

What is the point of keeping a patient in hospital for weeks, occupying a much-in-demand bed, waiting for MINOR surgery, which can only be performed on a Tuesday or a Thursday, PROVIDING there is time after all emergency and major surgeries have been done?

John was told that if he left the hospital, he would lose his 'place in the line' for the surgery, and there were several other patients I met on the male surgical ward who had been languishing in the hospital for weeks and even months!

What about the time lost from work and the resulting loss of income? How can a major hospital have medical teams that only came to the wards ONCE a week to review the patients' cases, and only offer surgery twice weekly?

The delays experienced by my employee have caused a minor injury to become a major problem, and him to be away from for almost six weeks. And all of this, thanks to the 'free health care' offered in Jamaica.

Surely, it makes no sense to pretend to be offering free health care when, in fact, it can be far more costly for those who cannot afford private care than for those who can.

The case advocating some form of payment must be re-examined as the deterioration in our health services is deplorable. In fact, health care is not now 'free'.

On another note - as has been reported recently - I, too, was told on my first visit to the Spanish Town Hospital that I could not proceed inside the gate as I had on a sleeveless dress - and this despite the fact that I saw several women displaying much cleavage! Just one more ridiculous rule which attests to our ability to focus on the petty and ignore major problems!

MAXINE WILLIAMS

rozimax@cwjamaica.com