Stakeholders of the Cost of Care report discuss the findings after the launch at the Nigel Harris Council Room, The University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters, yesterday. From left are: Parris Lyew-Ayee, Jr, director of Mona Geoinformatics; Dr Trevor McCartney, deputy dean Faculty of Medical Sciences at The University of the West Indies, Mona; Dr Elizabeth Ward, chair of the Voilence Prevention Allince; Dr Jason Toppin, consultant anaesthetist, The University Hospital of the West Indies; and William Mahfood, director, Violence Prevention Alliance. (Photo: Joseph wellington)
A new report setting out the high cost to the nation’s health system to treat injuries from violence and road fatalities was launched yesterday at the Nigel Harris Council Room, University of West Indies Regional Headquarters in St Andrew.
According to the report — Cost of Care – The Burden of Violence-Related Injuries and Road Traffic Crashes to the Health Care System in Jamaica — showed that an estimated $12.6 billion was spent in 2014 to address violence-related injuries (VRI), road traffic crashes (RTC), as well as attempted suicide.
The study, which investigated the burden of VRIs and RTC to the health-care system in Jamaica, revealed that in 2014, hospitals across the country managed more than 25,000 cases of violence-related injuries, 13,000 road traffic crashes and 500 cases of attempted suicide.
It pointed out that the direct medical cost of VRIs was $3.6 billion and the indirect cost was $5 billion and that the total medical cost of VRIs was some $8.6 billion.
At the same time, the estimated direct medical cost for road traffic crashes was $1.4 billion, and the indirect productivity cost was $1.8 billion, bringing the total direct and indirect medical cost of RTC to $3.2 billion.
For attempted suicide, the direct medical cost was $400 million and the productivity cost was $400 million, resulting in a total direct and indirect medical cost of $800 million.
Dr Elizabeth Ward, one of the lead investigators of the study and chairman of the Violence Prevention Alliance, said that the study underscores the financial impact that violence-related injuries and road traffic crashes were having on the health sector.
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