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Opposition Senator Peter Bunting has come out strongly against what he says is the poor state of the country's health sector.
Senator Bunting, addressing the Upper House earlier this week, claimed the public health care system is in the worst shape and the most run down, it has been in decades.
According to him, the one area that the Ministry of Health & Wellness is best at is public relations.
Those persons who have to interact with the health system are forced to suffer due to a lack of resources, he charged, citing "video clips of hospital patients with drip needles in their arms, lying in passageways and on wooden benches or sitting up in chairs for days..."
Senator Bunting added that questions remain regarding the Cornwall Regional Hospital rehabilitation project, which he suggested "must have by now earned the title 'mother of all costs overruns."
He reiterated that the rehabilitation project "started with a budget of two billion and a timeline of about a year," and now has a budget of $14 billion "and climbing".
Furthermore, he said, there's no evidence that the promised expansion of Bustamante Children's Hospital has begun.
Turning to the University Hospital of the West Indies, he referred to claims by the former Board Chairman of the hospital, "of improper ministerial interference."
"Cronyism is rampant", he charged.
Tufton: Significant achievements
In contraast to the claims made by Senator Bunting, Health & Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has asserted that much has been achieved over the last year to improve the delivery of health care.
Dr Tufton, speaking on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, said the complaint of a lack of bed space is being addressed through investment in infrastructure.
He added that the reform of primary health care will ease the pressure on hospitals.
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