PNP Calls for Resignation of the Board of NERHA
Kingston, Jamaica. June 25, 2024: General Secretary of the People’s National Party (PNP) is calling for the immediate resignation of the board of directors of the North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) in light of the mounting complaints from users of the public health system. These complaints are a testament to their continued failure to discharge their duties satisfactorily. The board has presided over the continued deterioration of the six hospitals and seventy health centers across the three parishes under its purview.
In particular, the St Ann’s Bay Hospital has seen a litany of complaints from patients about waiting times and poor service as a result of the lack of equipment. The High Dependency Unit funded by PROMAC, purposed for the provision of critical care for mothers, remains in an unusable state even as maternal mortality rates in the region have risen by 56%, according to data provided by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW). The NERHA has been silent on these critical issues, yet, found it a priority to issue a press release outlining its development plans for a health centre after a video about its deplorable state was released by MP aspirant Senator Gabriela Morrison.
“The fact that the board was more concerned about showing off its grand infrastructural plans rather than addressing the valid concerns of the victims of a dilapidated health service speaks to their prioritisation of PR over policies. Policies that would see the commissioning of the PROMAC HDUs. Policies that would prioritise a CAT scan at the St. Ann’s Bay Hospital and policies that would ensure proper inventory management so surgeries at the Annotto Bay Hospital will no longer have to be cancelled because of a lack of bleach,” said Dr. Campbell.
The General Secretary is equally perturbed at the narrative that mothers who have died were to blame for their own demise as they never sought to control their chronic illnesses or sought antenatal care early in their pregnancies. This horrific act of victim-blaming at a time when there is a call to increase birth rates flies in the face of humanity and decency.
The PNP is calling on the entire board to do the right thing and step down to make way for individuals who are committed to improving the health sector rather than using PR to save face.
