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Dr. Dayton Campbell, Opposition Spokesman on Health
The Health Ministry has called an emergency media briefing to discuss the future of the Cornwall Regional Hospital which is grappling with an air quality crisis.
It is underway at the Office of the Prime Minister.
RJR News has been reporting that medical workers at the hospital have been falling ill in recent weeks as noxious fumes have resurfaced.
The problem has been linked to a malfunctioning ventilation system at the ten storey hospital.
It emerged last week that it will cost almost $2 billion to address the problem.
The Opposition Spokesman on Health has said the Accident and Emergency Department at Cornwall Regional Hospital is in dire need of attention.
Dr. Dayton Campbell, along with opposition members Dr. Wykeham McNeil and Dr. Morais Guy, conducted a tour of the facility Tuesday morning.
Dr. Campbell is calling for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to intervene.
"It is deplorable, it is disgusting, it is unacceptable. Something has to be done, it cannot continue like that. I really commend the staff for working under those trying circumstances but the government ought not to be asking them to work under those circumstances. It is unfair!" he insisted.
Dr. Campbell has called for accountability with regards to the repair process at the hospital.
He argued that "the case can be made that the conditions at the facility two years in have gotten worse as opposed to better" despite the government spending more than $800 million so far.
"We need to get a work plan outlining what they've found, what needs to be done, what's the timeline to get it done, what's the budget, so we can monitor this thing and there can be some amount of accountability and transparency in the process," he contended.
Med Techs standoff
Meanwhile, Dr. Campbell has also urged the Health Minister to swiftly address the situation with medical technologists to prevent a ripple effect across the health sector.
Medical technologists assigned to the Blood Bank and the National Public Health Laboratory remained off the job on Tuesday.
The technologists are upset that they have not received outstanding salaries. They were reportedly expecting payment on Friday based on an agreement reached with the Government on February 27.
"They need to make the payments so that we can restore normalcy within the sector because it is a critical part of the delivery of health care. We need to be able to get the laboratory tests," Mr. Campbell reasoned.
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