Errol Beckford (left), chief executive officer of Kingston Public Hospital, discusses security arrangements with Police Commissioner Francis Forbes. - Rudolph BrownTHE MINISTRY of Health yesterday put in new security measures at the Kingston Public Hospital, North Street, in the wake of the gun murders there on Wednesday of a patient and a district constable who was guarding him.
The Ministry said other security details were being discussed.
And detectives last night said they were questioning Orville "Zion Train" Griffiths about Tuesday's drive-by shooting outside the gate of the Kingston Public Hospital.
Yesterday, the Police High Command and members of the Jamaica Defence Force met with MoH officials and KPH management and staff to iron out security details.
According to the Health Ministry, several recommendations were put forward for improving security at the hospital. It said these were being examined to determine short-term, medium and long-term measures for implementation. Some measures include putting additional lighting on the hospital compound, and the implementation of surveillance cameras and improvement in the metal-detection system, among other access control devices.
The setting up of a Security Commission for the hospital to oversee security measures on an on-going basis, was being discussed, the Ministry said.
Det. Senior Supt. Tony Hewitt, Metro Crime Officer, CIB Headquarters, East Queen Street, told The Gleaner that Griffiths, with his attorney-at-law, Mr. Delroy Chuck, visited the Denham Town police station yesterday, but Griffiths was taken to Kingston Central police station where he was being questioned up to late last night.
Four people, including a radiographer and a plaster technician on the hospital's staff, were shot and injured about 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, when men travelling in a white car, drove up to the hospital gate and opened fire, hitting all four. Several .45 calibre cartridge casings were found at the scene.
On Wednesday, the Constabulary Communi-cation Network said the police were looking for a man for questioning about Wednesday's gun slaying at the KPH of District Constable Oswald Thompson of the St. Andrew South Police Division, and Nakia Broderick, 19, the prisoner he was guarding.
The police say Broderick, of Delacree Road, off Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 13, also goes by the name "Bunny Lee".
Broderick's sister, Nathalie, 23, was shot dead three hours after his death when she went to Madden's Funeral Home to identify her brother's body.
Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, his People's National Party and the Junior Doctors' Association have condemned Wednesday's killings at the KPH, the nation's largest hospital.
Mr. Patterson said the society should not allow any institution "much less a premier medical institution" such as the KPH, to be held hostage to any group.
He said adequate arrangements were being put in place to ensure the full resumption of service at the KPH, to allow staff and patients using it to operate with the assurance of being in a safe environment.
The PNP, in a statement, described the invasion of the hospital as "reprehensible" and "intolerable". It said it had expressed sympathy to the relatives and friends of D/C Thompson.
The PNP called on Opposition Leader Edward Seaga, Member of Parliament for the West Kingston "to use his not inconsiderable authority within his constituency in which the facility is located, to work with the security forces to reduce and eventually prevent such terrorist attacks on the KPH."
The Junior Doctors, in a press release yesterday, said Wednesday's shootings have once again brought into sharp focus, concerns for the safety of the staff, patients and visitors in the country's health facilities, and KPH in particular.
The JDA said that to minimise any recurrence of Wednesday's shootings, staff of health facilities should be notified long before persons in custody are taken to health-care facilities. This, it said, would allow hospital staff to be more vigilant in looking out for persons whose presence may pose a threat to other persons at health-care facilities.
Police Commissioner Francis Forbes yesterday gave an undertaking that staffing and terms of reference for the police post on the compound would be reviewed and strengthened.
