Jamaica’s Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton is urging residents not to leave their loved ones at public hospitals, which is a common practice during the Christmas season.
“Hospitals are not holding areas,” the Minister said as he emphasized that hospitals should prioritize spaces for those in need of medical care, rather than social cases, that is, individuals who have been discharged but remain in the institution.
At a recent Christmas gift-giving event at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, Tufton noted an increase in social cases during the holiday season.
“In the worst-case scenario, some families drop off dependents with chronic ailments at hospitals and fail to pick them up later, which we strongly discourage,” he said.
While hospital staff do their best to manage these situations, he highlighted that the Spanish Town Hospital faces particular challenges due to its urban location.
He encouraged families to care for their loved ones and not view hospitals as holding areas for convenience during the holiday season.
Limited bed space due to social cases
The climbing number of social cases across the island hospitals has led to limited number of beds for patients who need them.
In October, the management at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland said it was experiencing a bed space crisis.
Camille Lewin, chief executive officer (CEO) at the hospital, said over the last few months, the number of social cases has increased so much that patients with emergencies who are admitted are not able to find a comfortable bed to be treated.
Some 500 of the 700 residents at the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston are also classified as social cases, according to Dr. Tufton.
Government working to address issue
The Ministries of Health and Wellness and Local Government and Community Development have been collaborating to expand infirmaries as part of efforts to resolve the issue of social cases at public hospitals.
Tufton said, so far, the Ministry has provided funding to build a new ward at the Spanish Town Infirmary in St. Catherine to relocate several persons from the Spanish Town Hospital whose families have failed to pick them up, and who have indicated they have nowhere to go.
He said more work will be done in other regions across the island to ensure that all social cases are removed from public health facilities.
“We did it in Trelawny. We had 30 social cases that have been relocated from the Cornwall Regional Hospital to the Trelawny Infirmary. We are doing something in Westmoreland with the Municipal Authority there. Once they are officially discharged, the social case file is determined whether they have relatives, whether they are genuine social cases,” he said during a post-Cabinet press briefing.
“They could be easily treated from home, but have been abandoned. So there is a huge society problem which we have to recognize,” he emphasized.
Tufton added that the Ministry is exploring the option of legislative changes to tackle the issue.
“I had announced some time ago that we would look at pursuing legal action against family members who abandon their relatives when that evidence was there … and we have been waiting for a definitive position from the Attorney General’s office.
“The indicative position has been that we may not have jurisdictional responsibility to pursue the matter at that level and it may mean legislative changes. But I have not gotten that firmly as yet, which is what has prevented us from going to the courts already,” he said.
Additionally, Tufton said the Ministry intends to expand the community outreach around the treatment of mental health.
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