By Francine Black, Staff ReporterTHE CONTINUED shortage of nurses, public health inspectors, pharmacists and medical supplies has placed the health sector under stress.
Some hospitals are running short on even alcohol, antibiotic dressing and reagents to test for some deadly viruses, while the emigration of nurses and the unavailability of other health workers are having a serious toll on the sector.
Three months ago, The Gleaner reported that the May Pen Hospital was referring patients to private facilities because of the lack of adequate supplies to do testing. The Percy Junor Hospital in Mandeville was reportedly forced to scale down its order for supplies because of the islandwide problem.
But while patients are feeling the pinch, health officials are downplaying the impact of the shortage of medical supplies on the operations of the island's hospitals. The Minister of Health, John Junor, is confident that the budget increase of $4.8 billion to the sector will allow current supply measures to be maintained and additional measures to be implemented by the Ministry. Nurses are however complaining of increased stress and their association has appealed to the Government for help.
NURSES ARE NEEDED
More nurses are needed, said Valda Lawrence-Campbell, president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) while calling for the Ministry of Health's intervention.
She said that the shortage is bad, considering that the Government is barely able to meet the number required at hospitals.
The Government has not been able to keep enough registered nurses in the sector to fill the 2,191 posts that there are to be filled. In 1999 some 1,631 of the 2,191 posts were filled and by the year 2000 the number was reduced to 1,328 a 39.3 per cent vacancy, data in the Economic and Social Survey of 2000 revealed. Currently there are a little more than 2,000 nurses in the island.
The NAJ president noted that local nurses are continuing to leave for better opportunities overseas, as many refused to wait out the years it takes for them to achieve goals such as purchasing a car.
NEW GRADUATES
"When the new graduates come in, the first thing they say is they don't want to take any bus to come to work," Mrs. Lawrence-Campbell said.
New graduates reportedly do not stay more than a year locally before going off elsewhere. Everton Anderson, chief executive officer at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, said they had managed to retain most of the nursing staff; among them ward assistants, enrolled nursing assistants and registered nurses by increasing their training and motivational programmes.
"We have managed to retain 72 per cent of our nursing staff," Mr. Anderson said.
In 2002, the hospital operations were seriously strained after the facility began to suffer from a shortage of nurses which forced officials to consider using the Mount Salem Health Centre as an ambulatory arm to the hospital.
According to Mr. Junor, the Ministry will be seeking to increase the numbers in the public health sector soon.
"In the areas where we have a shortage, pharmacists, public health inspectors and nurses we will be seeking to increase personnel," he said.
Available data up to 2000 show that almost a half of the posts for pharmacists had not been taken up, a situation which had remained from the year before. And as much as 41 per cent of the 499 positions for public health inspectors remained vacant in that period.
In 2001, Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson had announced measures to boost the number of health workers within the sector including an agreement between Jamaica and Cuba to provide doctors and nurses.
Minister Junor noted that the programme is still ongoing and that there were such nurses at the Kingston Public Hospital and the University Hospital of the West Indies.
AVAILABILITY OF SUPPLIES
The availability of supplies continues to cause some concern. Reports are that some hospitals were short of alcohol, sundries and antibiotic dressing by as much as 70 per cent.
At the National Public Health Laboratory, the shortage of reagents used to test for viruses such as hepatitis B continues, despite efforts by the Health Ministry to meet the demand.
"We do not have a problem that will cause a catastrophe," Shermaine Robotham-White, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Health told The Sunday Gleaner. "Arrangements have been put in place to ensure that there is a constant supply."
At the Cornwall Regional Hospital, health officials noted that despite the widespread shortages they were not seriously affected.
"We are coping," a spokesman said.
There are reports that hospitals in central Jamaica lacked supplies to test blood, sundries and antibiotic dressing.
NAJ president, Mrs. Lawrence-Campbell noted that the shortages that have been affecting every hospital were being
sorted out.
"It is something the regions are addressing," she said, a position supported by Mr. Junor.
"We (Ministry of Health) have been monitoring our supplies carefully and we have developed a good relationship with our suppliers. We have managed over time to ensure that most of the time we have supplies," he said.
