Backup battery not included

WESTERN BUREAU:

Already physically weakened by cancer, some Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) patients are also dealing with the emotional and financial strains of finding several hundred thousand dollars for private CT scans and other tests while awaiting access to state-owned machines.

The cancer patients, who find peace in the Montego Bay Cancer Support Group, recently held a meeting where they spoke freely about the hardships they encounter as they urgently beg and borrow from loved ones to pay for testing and treatment.

“I have breast cancer and now it has [spread] to the lungs, so I have a CT scan to do from last month, but I can’t find the money. The funds are low,” said Angella Rowe*.

The Sunday Gleaner learnt that the CT scanner at the facility has been out of operation since early 2024; however, checks showed that CRH, the sole Type-A hospital in western Jamaica, has been dealing with a CT scanner dilemma since 2010. Just last year, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton revealed that the hospital had received a new state-of-the-art CT scanner, but the machine has yet to be commissioned since the hospital is reportedly awaiting a backup battery.

Meanwhile, Juliet Brown* said she has grown tired of hearing that there is no CT scanner at CRH. According to the stage-one breast cancer patient, she has been striving to raise finances to combat the deadly disease but, with limited financial resources, she is unable to pay for a private test. Checks at three western Jamaican private facilities revealed that a CT chest, abdominal, and pelvic (CAP) examination costs between $90,000 and $110,000.

A CT scan is $110,000

“They received a brand new CT scan machine at the hospital from last year and they keep on telling us that it is not working and it needed battery. Just yesterday I went to the hospital by the oncology clinic and, from what I understand, they are saying that the machine is there and it is a brand new machine. We heard that if the machine is not up and running by March, then we will have to do the test privately. A CT scan is $110,000 and most of us can’t afford it,” Brown bemoaned.

Brown also stated that she was pleased to find that the Jamaican Government had granted funds for privately performed CT scans through the National Health Fund (NHF), but those funds had already been depleted.

While other members of the Montego Bay Cancer Support Group advocated for their own health difficulties, Jeffery Plummer*, the meeting’s lone male member, spoke openly about his struggles as he eagerly seeks treatment for his six-year-old daughter. Plummer’s daughter was diagnosed with Wilms tumour when she was three years old and has now lost a kidney as a result of the condition.

“We have been going up and down for treatment. Whenever she is to get CT scans done, they say that they are not able to be done at the hospital, so they send us to Savanna-la-Mar (Westmoreland), Falmouth (Trelawny) or Kingston. I had to go to Kingston once,” said Plummer.

“She is not doing so badly right now, but since the year started, she has been having some tummy problems and we had to do CT scans again. We had to go outside to get it done.”

Furthermore, Plummer stated that the need for privately performed CT scans has put an additional pressure on his family due to his present unemployment. The father informed The Sunday Gleaner that he lost his work due to the demands of his daughter’s sickness.

“I have lost my job more than once because I have to be there for her. I had to go to [CRH] about six times this year because the pain was too much for her and she couldn’t bear it.

She cannot go to school and sometimes we can’t sleep at nights. It has been rough because the finances are not there to carry out certain things,” he bemoaned.

According to the Global Cancer Observatory, Jamaica had 7,500 newly reported cancer cases in 2022 and 4,632 cancer-related deaths that same year. There were 4,632 cancer deaths – 2,423 males and 2,209 females. The three leading cancers across the island at the time were prostate, breast, and colorectum – a cancer that starts in the colon or rectum – the three deadly diseases were also linked to the leading cancer deaths.

Leading cause

of death

The health ministry appears to be conducting substantial health promotion and education about the prevalence of cancer on the island. The ministry’s website states that, “In the April 2023 publication of Jamaica’s Vitals, the NCDs edition, cancer is shown to be the leading cause of death in the island, accounting for some 23.7 per cent of non-communicable diseases deaths and 18.9 per cent of all deaths in 2020. There were an estimated 7,348 new cancer cases, and 4,746 cancer deaths in 2020.”

It also pointed out that breast cancer increased by 63 per cent and prostate cancer went up by 25 per cent between 2010 and 2020.

At the same time, two members of the cancer support group have expressed concerns about the current free public health sector, pushing for a tiny user fee in hospitals. Jamaica has had free healthcare since April 2008, when the Government eliminated user fees at public health facilities.

“I want the ministry to look into even just charging us a small fee. If it is even $100, the volume of people in Jamaica right now weh sick, that money can go towards some of the small scans that we are supposed to do. It does a lot to your family when you can’t manage and sometimes your family members nuh business wid you none at all, so we are willing to pay even a small fee,” said Stacy Walker*.

“Even if they say, ‘Pay half of the CT scan [fee]’, then our family can chump up, but I can’t afford the hundred and odd thousand to do it privately. And we see how [US President Donald] Trump is going on now, so my family can’t really send the money like one time and is over there I used to get money from,” Ann-Marie Taylor chimed in.

However, Dr Delroy Fray, clinical coordinator at CRH, believes the patients’ yearlong wait will soon be over, as the facility’s new cutting-edge CT machine will be operational within the next week. Fray told The Sunday Gleaner that while CRH is undergoing rehabilitation, cancer patients have been afforded “first-world care” at the facility.

First world care

“I make sure that cancer is dealt with properly. We offer a first world care for all of our cancer patients. We have surgeons here, oncologists and radiotherapy that can give the full service to our cancer patients. The NHF provides all cancer medications to our patients free of cost. Sometimes you have little unique cases that need a more expensive drug; once we send it to NHF, they get it for us. Those are facts I am telling you,” Fray said.

When asked about the CT scanner at the hospital, Fray admitted that the machine has been out of use “for over a year now”.

“The Government [gave] us money for us to allow the patients to go outside to get it done because our CT machine wasn’t working, but the source of the fund is dried up. We used up all of it. We had to direct it to the trauma patients and patients who needed urgent care. Some of [the cancer patients] got their CT scans done, but not all of them and that is why they are complaining to you. They are right to complain about it but, in another week, that will be solved,” he said.

Fray added, “And even so, if somebody really can’t afford a [privately done CT scan] and we need it badly, the hospital pays for it, but we couldn’t pay for everybody. What we have to do is patients who are on treatment right now, when they come and they need the scan done, we have to ask them to get the family or somebody to help get it because we don’t want to stop the treatment, we want to continue and see the progress.”

Though Fray acknowledged the financial hardship that patients face, in addition to the mental stress associated with cancer, he explained that the need to continue treatment is the driving reason behind the privately conducted examinations.

“When you are treating patients with cancer, you have to check your treatment modality and one of the ways you check to see the effectiveness is by doing CT scans of the chest, abdomen and pelvis, especially in those patients who you might have seen some spread there. You do that and then you start the treatment; then, at six-month intervals, you have to repeat to see your progress to see if you have to change medication.”

“All we were waiting on is a backup battery because it is a very sensitive machine. We cannot use it without backup because it will spoil,” Fray said.

*Names changed to protect identities of individuals who asked not to be named

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com