Garth Rattray | Go into the trenches, Dr Tufton

It was very difficult for me to watch the social media video of Dr Robert Brady, a US-based surgeon section chief at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut, expressing his deep distress and disappointment over “some very clear infrastructure issues” at the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC). The BHC is currently Jamaica’s only hospital dedicated to children and the Caribbean’s premier healthcare facility for them.

He bemoaned and decried the conditions at the BHC, while uplifting and praising the medical staff (labelling them as ‘amazing’ people) who take ‘great care’ of the kids at that institution. He has been coming here for 20 years. Two months prior to this trip, he had requested that the air conditioning issues be fixed or that accommodations be made elsewhere for him and his team to perform necessary surgeries on [an anticipated] 12 to 16 children.

This trip, they were only able to perform five surgeries because his requests were ignored. The 11th hour attempt to transfer the cases to the University Hospital of the West Indies was too little, and far too late.

He and his team make the sacrifice to travel here two times a year, and also donate hundreds of thousands of US dollars; we need to [at least] put the infrastructure in place to do our part in taking care of our sick children. We are failing to upkeep the equipment and support machinery. He scolded us for not putting the necessary money into providing the needed care for our children.

EMBARRASSED AND ASHAMED

I was embarrassed and ashamed of our healthcare system. I was distressed and saddened that the real losers in all of this are our children who suffer needlessly. I felt frustrated that, whenever some of us complain publicly, damage control mechanisms are rapidly deployed with such ferocity that attempts to listen and work on the issues are pushed aside and eventually forgotten. Hence the repeated problems year after year after year after year.

We know that efforts are in progress to construct another children’s hospital in the west of the island. We also know that extensive work is still being carried out on the Cornwall Regional Hospital – also in the west. Billions of dollars are being spent on those facilities, some of which are cost overruns. However, at the other public healthcare facilities there exists serious space, infrastructure and supply problems that seriously compromise the health of innumerable thousands of citizens – these facilities need urgent funding too.

While we look forward to the completion of the new hospitals in the west, on many occasions, there are no available hospital beds (at the private hospitals and the semi-public hospital) for seriously sick citizens within the Kingston and St Andrew area. The Kingston Regional Hospital must accept all emergency cases (even if that means nursing them on chairs and stretchers), and that is the only reason why people are not dying on our sidewalks for lack of medical care.

PUBLIC AMBULANCES

We need many more public ambulances. Taxi cabs have been the most frequently used ‘ambulance’ service across the island for decades! I have experienced trying to get ambulance service (from public and private sources) for patients, only to learn that there are none available! This is extremely serious and untenable. I know that persons have offered to donate used and very well-equipped ambulances from England, but insurmountable hurdles are put in their way and there is no one with which to speak to remedy the situation.

Some of our sick and suffering citizens are still sitting in chairs for many hours and even days while they wait on available bed space. I personally know of several patients who discharged themselves, gone home and risked death rather than suffer horrendously on a chair in some corridor or in a corner of a ward, waiting for someone to be discharged or die. I have yet to hear of anything substantive planned to address those, and many other problems. Instead, the authorities go into defence mode and complain that they are being bashed. It’s infuriating to hear whining about being bashed while patients continue to suffer and die needlessly.

I recall my years working in the public hospital and the semi-public hospital. I never saw any of the administrative staff, let alone the government officials, walking through the wards to see how things are going and to ask about the things that we need to care for the sick. But we knew when someone of importance was about to visit. All of a sudden, the place was specially cleaned and organised. Top staff and admin personnel appeared, and then we had to blend into the woodwork as the tour was carried out.

I also know for a fact that government officials are not subjected to the same treatment as are the ‘ordinary’ citizen. They are put on a fast track and no little intern or inexperienced staff member is allowed near to them. Investigations are labelled ‘stat’ and they are hurried to a bed.

Minister of Health and Wellness Christopher Tufton will never know the true state of affairs and will not have grounds to complain about criticisms until and unless he goes into the trenches unannounced and repeatedly. He needs to see for himself and speak with the frontline ‘soldiers’ gallantly fighting the war against disease and death with limited resources.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com