Ferguson to look at improving island's pathology services

BY HORACE HINES Observer staff reporter hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, January 30, 2012

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson has promised to improve the island's pathology services in the aftermath of Thursday's massive demonstration over the failure of the police to have the days-old decomposing body of a man removed from an abandoned house in Niagara, southern St James.

"It is a disgrace when a body would lie for hours or even without attention to the elements. It is bad to have died but then in death we still believe in reverence and respect and as the new minister it is an area — it is a lot that is on the plate — but is an area that must be looked at," Dr Ferguson told members of the media during an interview in Montego Bay on Friday.

He added: "There has been a problem in terms of the pathology service in the public sector for sometime now. There was a couple years ago when there was some improvement — and then we are back to square one."

But Dr Ferguson was unable to say how many pathologists are in the public sector amidst reports that there is only one.

He, however, argued that as the new health minister he was obligated to provide incentives to attract qualified persons both locally and from overseas.

Last Thursday, dozens of Niagara residents used tree trunks and boulders to block a bridge that links St James and St Elizabeth — severely disrupting traffic — over the failure of the police to have the body of 40-year-old Harold James removed from the community.

The residents had complained that the police were made aware of the body the Monday prior, the day it was discovered.

The residents said that the stench from the rotting body had become unbearable. However, there were claims that the body had to remain in the house until a pathologist arrived to conduct an on-the-spot post-mortem.

The examination was done on Thursday, following which undertakers removed the body from the house.

Friday, the health minister lamented that the delay of post-mortems was placing a financial burden on bereaved families.

"It is costing families across the country an enormous amount of money because of the length of time it has taken, in many instances, to do the post-mortem. And so, it is an area that is going to be addressed because my focus is going to be service delivery. That is going to be the essence of my tenure," Dr Ferguson argued.

"We have been sidetracked with other things, but service delivery is going to be at the heart of my tenure as minister of health," he reiterated.

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Ferguson to look at improving island's pathology services