Guy criticises plan to assign operating theatre managers to every hospital

 

Opposition Member of Parliament for St. Mary Central Dr. Morais Guy is criticising the government's proposal to assign operating theatre managers to each public hospital across the island. 

 

The plan was announced by Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton. 

 

However, Dr. Guy believes the managers should instead be assigned to the regional health authorities, where they can oversee all operating theatres within each region.

 

"You don't necessarily want one for each hospital. I think what happens is that each regional health authority should have that, and you could have rotation between the hospitals. If the people are doing their works that are being paid for, then you don't need one in each hospital. You need probably one or two for each region," he suggested.

 

Operating theatres across the island have recently been plagued by mould infestations and malfunctioning air conditioning units, forcing the rescheduling of several surgical procedures.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Guy has pledged that if the People's National Party forms the next government, it will act swiftly to make Cornwall Regional Hospital fully operational to better serve the people of western Jamaica.

 

"We will ensure that the work is progressing in a particular way because, as you know, there are about six or eight different timelines that have been missed based on the minister's projection. And the last one is actually [20]26-27 that Cornwall will be fully operationalised. We don't know if this is so. Cornwall Regional Hospital has to be restored, and urgently, to continue to serve the people of Western Jamaica," Dr. Guy insisted.

 

He made the comments while speaking on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines on Thursday.