Gasping for air
Nearly half of ventilators in public system out of service; some hospitals without critical equipment
Published:Friday | June 21, 2024 | 12:11 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Forty-six per cent of the ventilators in the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) are non-operational, an internal audit by the Ministry of Health and Wellness has revealed.
Of the 91 life-saving machines spread across the Kingston Public (KPH), Victoria Jubilee, Spanish Town, and Princess Margaret hospitals as well as the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC) – which fall under SERHA – 49 are working, and 42 are non-operational.
KPH accounted for 31 of all operational ventilators within SERHA and 23 of those out of service. At the BHC, there are eight working ventilators and five non-working. Princess Margaret has one machine while Spanish Town has 23, of which 14 which are non-operational. There is no ventilator at St Joseph’s Hospital.
The University Hospital of the West Indies, a teaching type A facility, has 54 ventilators, the majority of which (29) are non-operational.
The health ministry audit showed that within the North East Regional Authority, there are 10 ventilators at the St Ann’s Bay Hospital, six of which are operational. Annotto Bay Hospital has four working machines while Port Maria Hospital and Port Antonio Hospital have none.
Death of a newborn
The audit confirmed that May Pen Hospital in Clarendon has only one ventilator, which is used to transport patients between departments or to other hospitals.
This disclosure comes a week after The Gleaner reported on the death of a newborn baby who needed the machine due to his premature birth but could not get access.
The findings of the audit, released late Thursday, also confirmed that the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), which manages May Pen, has a total of 16 ventilators, 15 of which are assigned to Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester. Six of them are non-operational.
The ministry did not give an account for Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth, and Linstead Hospital in St Catherine is without a machine.
Hospitals falling under the Western Regional Health Authority share 34 ventilators, 26 of which are in working order. The health ministry said Falmouth Hospital has one ventilator, which it listed as non-operational. Two of the seven ventilators at Savanna-la-Mar Hospital are not working, and 21 of the 26 at Cornwall Regional Hospital are active.
The audit follows a public spat between Tufton and his opposition counterpart, Dr Alfred Dawes, over the number of available intensive care unit bed spaces and ventilators as well as the increase in Jamaica’s maternal and child mortality rates.
Dawes, last week, called for an audit of ventilators in the public-health system after The Gleaner reported Chavanie Farquharson-Blackstock’s pain over the death of her newborn at May Pen Hospital.
On Monday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he had ordered an investigation into the matter amid recent tragedies at public-health facilities. He also asked for an account of ventilators in the system.
Speculations and insinuation
Dawes said he welcomed the move but maintained that the health of mothers and neonates remained at risk due to an inadequate public healthcare system in Jamaica.
Yesterday, Tufton fired back, insisting that none of the ventilators donated to the ministry had been missing and rebutted what he said were speculations and insinuations that ventilators are not being utilised.
Further, he asserted that ventilators without trained practitioners were effectively useless.
He said 210 ventilators are registered in the system, 118 of which are operational. Forty are being repaired and 52 are obsolete.
“This represents the largest number of ventilators that public health has had … . I say [this] without fear or favour, and I ask anyone who has alternative knowledge or data, ‘At what other point has public health [had] in active use as [many] as 118 ventilators?’ I know of no other period,” said Tufton.