PNP representatives call for sacking of Health Minister, SRHA chairman

By Nakinskie Robinson    

 

Calls for the resignation of the Health Minister and the Chairman of the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) have been made by some political representatives in Manchester.

 

The calls have come after the Ministry of Health revealed that the maternal mortality rate in the SRHA skyrocketed from 27 per 100,000 to 273 per 100,000 women.

 

The Ministry attributed a sharp increase in the country's maternal mortality rate to COVID-19.

 

But in 2021, 11 of 19 maternal deaths were attributed to COVID-19, and by 2022, two of 18 maternal deaths were said to be COVID-related.

 

The call has also been triggered by the unavailability of a ventilator at May Pen Hospital in Clarendon and staff shortage at the nearby Mandeville Regional Hospital - issues which were blamed for the death of a newborn earlier this month.

 

In light of these developments, Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell said both Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton and SRHA Chairman Wayne Chen should be sacked. 

 

"I think the Prime Minister of Jamaica should relieve Minister Tufton of his responsibility and relieve the board of the Southern Regional Health Authority and find competent people, because it therefore means that they have not been watching what has been going on," he contended, adding that the people of Manchester, St. Elizabeth and Clarendon deserve better.

 

"We used to praise the Mandeville Regional Hospital. We used to praise the Southern Regional Health Authority under the chairmanship of one Mrs. Faye Bell. And I'm not only speaking because I'm a politician now, I'm speaking because I'm concerned. I'm a father. It could be my girlfriend, or my sweetheart, or my wife, or my sister, or my mother, or my auntie that would have been in this predicament, and so I want to call too," said the Mandeville mayor. 

 

Meanwhile, People's National Party caretaker for South Manchester, Senator Peter Bunting, dismissed any arguments attributing the increased death toll to a lack of funding. 

 

"The Ministry of Health has been allocated more resources in the budget than any other period in history. For maternal and child health, the European Union gave $4 billion to upgrade the facilities at particular hospitals, including Mandeville Regional Hospital, and subsequently they got another grant during the COVID time. So they have no excuse. So in the face of this, when we see $450 million being spent by the Ministry of Finance fi rent a empty space, poor management and it is corruption why they're not doing better.