PRESIDENT Of the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ), Dr. John Hall, said last night that hospitals were having a difficult time collecting outstanding bills from victims of crime and violence, saying a large number of those persons were unemployed.
According to Dr. Hall, crime related injuries have consumed approximately 48 per cent of hospital drug budgets, the cost of which, he said, may never be recovered.
"These costs are unrecoverable because 63 per cent of the persons treated are unemployed," he told a Gleaner's Editor's Forum on the State of the Nation's Health held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
STUDY COMMISSIONED
Dr. Hall said crime and violence accounted for eight per cent of all clinic visits, adding that the drug costs amounted to $171 million in 2002. He pointed out that the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) was treating 108 gunshot victims per month, which has led to the cancellation of one in three elective surgeries, and was continuing to take a heavy toll on the health care system.
And this was just one of the main issues facing the system, several other of the nation's top health care professionals told the Forum.
Health Minister, John Junor, said his ministry had commissioned a study of its systems and hinted that it may consolidate and reconfigure some areas.
That study is expected to be completed by December.
He said the assessment will look at how the health care system is designed and examine areas where health care is delivered and how officials can better deliver the service.
CRITICAL CHANGE AHEAD
Grace Allen-Young, permanent secretary in the Health Ministry, said that the ministry was now looking at making changes to critical areas. She said the assessment would look at the development, monitoring and renewal of critical systems such as patient assessment and the training of health professionals.
"We face some challenges and we are trying through systems development to meet those challenges and in the process, some things may change," Mrs Allen-Young said. The intention, she added, was to plug existing gaps and to realise savings.
The training of health professionals will be made easier now that the National Health Fund (NHF) has provided a training budget of $67 million, she said. She added that it came against a background of shortages of basic supplies, equipment and staffing in hospitals.
"There is a need to review cadres of health professionals whose standards were set long ago, and the Ministry must now determine what we actually need based on changing demographics," Mrs Allen-Young said.
