Acute shortages in the public health-care system are hurting the very people that Government’s no-user-fee policy is meant to protect because the resources are just not enough to guarantee efficient and timely medical attention.
Shortages identified in a 2015 audit of the public-health system included manpower, equipment, medications, wheelchairs, stretchers, gloves, beds, and other essential supplies.
A cursory examination of the Jamaican situation will reveal that a two-tier system of health care exists, in which those with money can access high-quality services in the private sector, while those who depend on the public system have to wait for even basic services.
So is free health care a farce? Not so, said Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, as he sat down to talk with The Gleaner about the challenges in health. He continued, “One has to accept that health care is not free. Somebody has to pay for it.”
If that someone is the Government, then 3.3 per cent of the national Budget has proven to be woefully inadequate to provide the levels of service required for free health care. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that the budgetary allocation should be at least six per cent.
“You can’t administer ‘no user fee’ or ‘free health care’ and expect all to be well on a 3.3 per cent budget. You are going to have shortages,” reasoned Tufton.
Take the shortage of beds as an example. The minister said a study done a few years ago suggested that there ought to be about 7,000 hospital beds to serve the population. However, there are about 3,500 beds in the public health-care sector.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20161207/free-health-care-farce#.WEgK8bn4quo.email
Leave A Comment