The system put in place by the Government for transparency in the procurement of equipment and services is failing the health sector according to Minister of Health Horace Dalley.

Following reports last week of a crisis at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH), Mr. Dalley said yesterday that the process to purchase the well-needed sterilising equipment and a new elevator, started in April and July respectively. However, the pieces of equipment are yet to arrive on the island. The elevator is being purchased at a cost of $77 million while the two autoclaves are valued at $1.4 million.

"One of the problems we have is the delaying and the bureaucracy in getting things done. Emergencies in the health sector must be treated as emergencies," he stressed. "I promise you one thing, that I am going to cut it down."

Transparency,accountability

Mr. Dalley argued that while he believes in transparency and accountability for money used from the public purse, a sense of urgency and emergency must impact the procurement process.

"Why should it take me or the Permanent Secretary or the directors 14 weeks to order 1,500 sheets when you need sheets at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH)?" Mr. Dalley asked.

"We are going to order the sheets and the Permanent Secretary and I will go to jail together," the Health Minister declared during a briefing held at the Ministry of Health yesterday.

Last week it was revealed by Dr. Douglas McDonald, senior medical officer at the VJH, that for 26 years, one elevator at the VJH had been malfunctioning, while there were also dysfunctional air conditioning units.

It was also made public that autoclaves used for sterilising medical equipment for surgery were malfunctioning.

Preventative maintenance

When asked if there were systems of preventative maintenance within the ministry, Mr. Dalley said that it was difficult to predict when equipment would malfunction. He told The Gleaner's health editor, Eulalee Thompson, "I'm sure in your own house you have had something go wrong."

The minister said the ministry was in the process of purchasing a CT scan and an MRI machine for the KPH.

Also, Mr. Dalley said that 90 new ambulances have been ordered for hospitals across the island. The first 40, he said, are scheduled to arrive by the end of January next year.

On Monday evening Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced that the fifth floor of the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) will be refurbished to allow for more space and comfort for pregnant mothers.