Dr Tufton, a Trojan in COVID-19 fight
Published:Monday | April 20, 2020 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Dr Christopher Tufton, in particular, has been the Trojan at the helm of Jamaica’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means that he determines, guides and implements governmental policy, directs protocol and coordinates the activities of technocrats within the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
Additionally, his ministry has to interface with the police and military high command, the World Health Organization, take on-board the subtle but legitimate and needed input by the opposition party in relation to COVID-19, his constituency issues, and attend to his family.
The risk we run, as a country, is that if he gets sick or snaps under sheer work pressure in these unprecedented circumstances, his good work to date will fail to achieve, and as a country we all will end up worse, in spite of a fairly good approach to the pandemic thus far.
We are apt to forget that the coronavirus crisis has run back-to-back with the health ministry’s fight against dengue, which itself is still ongoing.
While my concern for the prime minister and the Ministry of Health’s full contingent and affiliates is similar, Dr Tufton has really served a long, pressurised stretch, and the current situation must be taking a heavy toll on him. We must therefore pre-emptively think of a way to rotate personnel, and put in place facilities aimed at greater delegation of duties.
The ministry now needs to look both within and without to identify at least an additional point person before there is an emergency.
The management needs and data-driven nature of the portfolio makes Danville Walker, the former director of elections, come to mind. I am sure there will be other suggestions.
DERRICK D. SIMON