Following the virtual shutdown of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) by nurses who protested late last week about the lack of basic health supplies, Cabinet yesterday approved an emergency procurement procedure allowing the hospital to purchase equipment valued at $10 million.The fast tracking of the process, said Information Minister Donald Buchanan, will result in the delivery of the equipment within a month.
Speaking yesterday at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Mr. Buchanan said in the wake of last week's administrative bungling at the KPH, new measures would be implemented.
They include:
Increased autonomy for the Chief Executive Officer at the hospital Increase in the drug budget from $16 million to $25 million per month Increase in the emergency limit for purchasing from $30,000 to $100,000 per purchase Reorganise and computerise the storage area Implement systems for early warning sign to prevent crises Assign a team including the medical officer of health and health economists to determine cost to fund pharmaceutical demands nationally.Meanwhile Mr. Buchanan also dismissed suggestions that the Health Minister, Horace Dalley, had proposed the divestment of the KPH.
"What the minister said was that he was considering separating the administration of the KPH from the South Eastern Regional Health Authority and making it an autonomous entity, similar to the University Hospital," he said.
