Justice for Jodian’s family
Published:Saturday | May 2, 2020 | 12:08 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
I fail to understand why a pregnant young woman was turned away from three hospitals in Kingston because she showed signs/symptoms of COVID-19, one of them a private hospital, Andrews, that she had prepaid before labour. I find this entire situation unfathomable and unfortunate, to say the least. The fear of COVID-19 will kill many more pregnant women if these institutions that are in charge of the healthcare of sick patients are so uncaring with no regard for human life. The institutions so responsible should be held responsible for this injustice in a country that often pleads for human rights for one and all.
A lack of compassion and the lack of human sympathy by those three hospitals resulted in the death of this young woman. What has happened to the 23-year-old expectant mother while she was in active labour can and will happen to many more Jamaicans if we are not proactive by addressing the matter now. This is because we seem not to respect people’s rights under the fundamental laws that govern the land. The Ministry of Health has been pleading for Jamaicans to stop discriminating against COVID-19 patients when they should be pleading also to the hospitals that they placed in charge of dealing with these patients.
In our country, we have to exercise much more love and understanding as it relates to the grass-roots people in this COVID-19 crisis, who are the basis of our economy. This only goes to show that many are not very caring if you are not a person of status and are from the moneyed class. You could have killed a young talent of the class of Shelly-Ann Fraser without the Pryce and the comfort of today’s life.
Britanya Bonner
Tarrant High School student