Strengthen recruitment vetting to weed out unethical applicants, say doctors
Published:Wednesday | May 26, 2021 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A call has been made for more rigorous background checks to be conducted in the recruitment of healthcare staff.
Advocacy for the bolstering of screening for unemployment comes in the wake of scandalous allegations that a male nursing assistant fondled a 15-year-old suicidal patient at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Hanover, last week.
Dr Mindi Fitz-Henley, president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA), says strict background checks must be done to weed out healthcare worker applicants who have a criminal record or who may have been unethical in the past.
“I think the safety of all persons is of utmost priority, and I believe that that would come down to ensuring, when you are vetting the persons for hiring, that you have a full background check on them, to make sure that there is no similar report [of abuse] in any of the locations that they would have worked at,” Fitz-Henley told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
“It would just go back to ensuring the safety of all patients on the ward. I do not think that persons, whether staff members or patients, should have to be in a place where they feel vulnerable or exposed in any way.”
Reports surfaced over the weekend that the nursing assistant allegedly molested the teenager at midnight Friday, two days after she had been admitted at the Lucea-based facility for a drug overdose that was reportedly triggered by previous sexual abuse by a relative.
The patient’s family has since relocated her to another medical facility.
Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) acting Regional Director St Andrade Sinclair has confirmed that a probe is currently under way.
PREVIOUS REPORTS
The JMDA president disclosed that her organisation had received previous reports of similar incidents taking place at medical facilities. However, she was not in a position to give details on the outcomes of those cases.
“No-one is really alone on a ward with someone, which is why I say this case is something that will have to be investigated thoroughly, so I do not want to speak prematurely until more information is available.
“But it should be ensured that the person who has been violated gets the appropriate therapy and treatment and goes through the court with CISOCA [Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse] and gets all due processes that they have available to get,” Fitz-Henley added.