The nurses' union on Monday cautioned the health ministry about what it termed an unbalanced composition of a committee set up to review the operations of the National Chest Hospital, saying that the team was likely to muzzle health workers who wish to contribute to the probe.

"It has not escaped our attention, the clear disparity that is evident among the committee's non-medical persons versus the medical fraternity, as the Government moves to investigate the operations of the National Chest Hospital," Edith Allwood-Anderson, president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), said in a release Monday.

"The NAJ, as an advocate body for the public health sector, will watch scrupulously the perceived impact and bias this is likely to have on the outcome of the review committee's report," she added. "The NAJ trusts that there will be objectivity in spite of our dissatisfaction with the number of medical persons named to the review committee."

Last week, Health Minister Ruddy Spencer approved the establishment of a Committee of Inquiry in light of complaints and allegations received about the conduct of Dr Dennis Pyne - a surgeon at the hospital - who is accused of charging patients private rates to access the public health facility, even after the user fees in public health facilities were abolished. Dr Pyne was sent on leave effective July 14.

The committee, which is chaired by attorney Charles Piper, also comprises Dr Sheila Campbell-Forrester, chief medical officer; Dr Rosemarie Wright Pascoe, president, Medical Association of Jamaica; Thelma Campbell, former chief nursing officer at the Nurses Association of Jamaica; Dr Lambert Innis, president of the Association of Government Medical Consultants; Tanny Shirley, head of the South East Regional Health Authority; and Dr Myrton Smith, immediate past president, Jamaica Medical Doctors Association.

It has until August 14 to complete the review. It has also been mandated to provide recommendations to ensure that service delivery meets the required standards.

Meantime, the NAJ said it would be closely monitoring the review and urged the health minister to widen such a probe to include the operations of public health facilities islandwide.

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