Medical doctors show support for colleagues at Bustamante Hospital

By Kimone Witter    

 

The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association and the Association of Government Medical Consultants on Monday called for their members to wear black as a show of solidarity with their colleagues at the Bustamante Hospital for Children amid criticism of infrastructural challenges at the facility.

 

JMDA President Dr. Renee Badroe is arguing that doctors are being unfairly blamed for issues outside of their remit.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Monday morning, Dr. Badroe highlighted a specific comment made by Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton on Thursday, that there was a reluctance by hospitals to transfer patients to other facilities for treatment.

 

Dr. Tufton was addressing a press conference after criticisms were levelled at the government for the poor state of the operating theatre at Bustamante Hospital that resulted in the delay of corrective surgery for an 11-year-old girl. 

 

"There is always a reluctance for one hospital to transfer a patient to the next hospital because the clinical team here feel, I don't know, inadequate if they do that, I don't know what the reasons are. In this case, it's a simple case of having a proper dialogue in the case of the university, the sister or hospital up the road with Bustamante, which happens all the time," he had said. 

 

But the JMDA president says the Health Minister's comment is far from the truth. 

 

"Doctors have no problem transferring patients from one hospital to the next. It's something that we do every day, more than 30 times a day, all across island. If one health care facility doesn't have a particular...equipment or one hospital doesn't have a specialist, then we get calls, I get calls, we all get calls for the transfer of patients," she insisted.   

 

Dr. Badroe urged the Ministry of Health to take immediate action to resolve ongoing and widespread infrastructural challenges at public health facilities. 

 

"We have had infrastructural problems many times and we've reported it several times to the Ministry of Health that these issues need to be addressed. As doctors, we are responsible for doctoring patients, taking care of patients. Management of infrastructure would need to be provided by the ministry and whoever the ministry has put in charge of the different hospitals or health departments or health centres in which they work. So we are standing with the Bustamante Hospital doctors and we would just like Jamaica to know that we will do the best for our doctors and we will go to any hospital to treat our patient once the infrastructure is there," she said.