THE EDITOR, Sir:
ABOUT 10,000 teenage pregnancies occur in Jamaica each year; where at least 2,000 total HIV/AIDS cases, likely resulting from sexual transmission, had been reported among teenagers and youth. A significant number of teens with sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis and gonorrhea, are not infrequently managed by medical practitioners here in Jamaica.
Among the pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV cases resulting from sexual transmission that were documented in Jamaican children aged less than 16 years, how many have been formally reported by the medical fraternity and Ministry of Health for follow-up investigation and appropriate legal recourse? Are there any formal policies, or written procedures to facilitate such reporting from doctors, nurses and social workers within our public, or private health care institutions?
Finally, in situations where such reporting to the legal authorities is not done, are our doctors and health care providers in our island any less legally liable than the church deacon, who watched a teenager being raped and then did nothing?
I am, etc.,
CELIA D.C. CHRISTIE
Professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases
University Hospital of the West Indies
