‘Fuzzy math’
Dawes dismisses Tufton’s accounting for ventilators in the health sector
Published:Thursday | June 20, 2024 | 12:51 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Calling Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton’s report on the number of ventilators in Jamaica’s public health system “fuzzy math”, Dr Alfred Dawes yesterday insisted that most of the life-saving machines donated during the coronavirus pandemic have not been commissioned.
Dawes, who has been pressuring the Ministry of Health and Wellness to indicate to the country how many intensive care unit (ICU) spaces are available, said the donated ventilators that are to accompany them have remained in boxes or have been “cannibalised” to bolster those in use.
The opposition spokesperson on health’s call followed a Gleaner report a week ago about a mother whose newborn died at May Pen Hospital in Clarendon because there was no ventilator.
Dawes, who was speaking during a press conference on Wednesday at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, said the ministry has produced varying numbers for available ventilators, citing 122, 105, 150, and 54.
He said this included those at the University Hospital of the West Indies which, he said, is not a part of the public health system.
Dawes claimed the Opposition knows, as a matter of fact, that the ventilators – donated by the European Union and some private-sector organisations to help battle the virus – are not in working order.
Pointing to the Kingston Public Hospital, the main referral hospital in the country, Dawes said there are a maximum of eight working ventilators.
“It’s not hard to find 105 ventilators when you subtract eight from that. That leaves you at 97 to distribute at lesser upgraded and developed hospitals,” said Dawes.
“So, we know that many of these ventilators are in boxes or they have been cannibalised, where one part has been taken from one ventilator to fix another ventilator that is not working. We know this for a fact,” he added.
He said what the country is seeing is “fuzzy math”, where Jamaicans are not told the number of ventilators that are operational. Additionally, he said the health ministry is also not able to say.
Dawes, a medical doctor and former president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association, has insisted that an audit be conducted to ascertain the number of ventilators available islandwide, as well as the number of ICU spaces and high-dependency units in place for Jamaicans who need critical care.
In a social media point on X on Tuesday, declaring that “the numbers are in”, Tufton said there were 122 ventilators in the public health system.
He said 15 per cent were down or being repaired.
“This represents more functional ventilators than we have ever had in the public health system, despite the naysayers,” he said, adding, “Let’s keep moving.”
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Tuesday that he has ordered an investigation into recent disturbing incidents in the health sector, which have been “widely covered in the press”, and that he was expecting a report when Cabinet meets next Monday.
Yesterday, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon confirmed that the death of the newborn at May Pen Hospital and the concerns around ventilators were among those to be investigated.