Patients at public health facilities in the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), which covers Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine and St. Thomas may face challenges accessing radiology services due to fiscal constraints.
Patients have been able to access services such as X-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans at private facilities with a referal from public health centres and hospitals.
This is facilitated under the Enhancing Healthcare Programme, a partnership between the Health Ministry and private diagnostic facilities.
But in an internal memo dated Wednesday, December 11, the South East Regional Health Authority has directed that all external referrals for radiology services be discontinued until further notice.
Patients will therefore be redirected to public facilities within the health region that offer the services or they will have to foot the bill at private facilities.
SERHA says it has exhausted its budget for the programme, while noting that there has been a marked reduction in the allocation of funding for this initiative from the Health Ministry.
It also notes that the hospital administration will be required to fund dire emergencies that require immediate radiology services that are not available within the region.
Efforts to reach the acting regional director for SERHA, Lascelle Brown, for a comment were unsuccessful.
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