THE Jamaica Government is preparing an official response to claims that it neglected popular teacher and spelling coach Rev Glen Archer in his time of medical need, the minister of health said yesterday.

Dr Fenton Ferguson was responding to a query by the Jamaica Observer which sought an official position from him regarding charges that the spelling coach was not given support by the State for his chronic kidney challenges.

Dr Ferguson denied that Rev Archer was not looked after by the Government, but told the Sunday Observer that “a comprehensive response will come from the ministry soon”.

“I was in contact with Mr Roy Ebanks, the former principal of Ardenne High School, who recommended that Rev Archer write to me about the matter. A letter, dated December 3, 2014 was received on January 6, 2015 to which I responded on that same day, giving my support to him before passing the letter on to the permanent secretary,” Dr Ferguson told the Sunday Observer, before insisting that he could not say more on the matter, as the ministry was preparing to address it.

However, a senior official of the Ministry of Health told the Sunday Observer on Friday that the Government had not only pledged its full support to Rev Archer, but had also been there with him throughout the suffering and pain that renal failure usually inflicts on sufferers.

The official, who asked not to be named because of the delicate nature of the issue, said that the Ministry of Health had made numerous offers to assist Rev Archer with dialysis at the Caribbean’s largest medical facility — Kingston Public Hospital — but the educator, who also taught at Ardenne High School and coached its School’s Challenge Quiz team at one stage, refused the offers.

Rev Archer was even assisted by the Government while he was a patient at the University Hospital of the West Indies earlier this year, the official went on to say.

“I know for sure that the ministry offered to allow Rev Archer to do dialysis at the KPH and we selected the days that he could come in for treatment, but he refused to come in on certain days that we set, saying that he had to teach his spellers on those days,” the official said.

“You are talking about us ‘cutting the line’ to allow Rev Archer in to do dialysis, as there are over 700 patients on our list for dialysis treatment at the KPH,” the official continued.

Another source close to the CHASE Fund, administered by the Ministry of Finance, told the Sunday Observer on Wednesday that Rev Archer had, over the years, received financial support for his illness from that organisation, as well as from the National Health Fund, another State agency.

“We have been there for him, so it is erroneous to say that the Government and its agencies did not reach out to the reverend, the source said.

Rev Archer, 61, died of complications relating to kidney failure on February 15, and was buried at Dovecot Memorial Park on Sunday, March 1, following an emotional service of thanksgiving at Ardenne High School auditorium in St Andrew.

He is buried next to Dr Ferguson’s mother, Myrtle, who died in New York, also on February 5, at age 91, and who was laid to rest on Thursday, March 5.

Among the many successful moments of Rev Archer’s life was coaching Jodi-Anne Maxwell to victory in the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee in the United States in 1998, the first and only time by a Jamaican. He also coached 26 Spelling Bee champions in the national Spelling Bee competition run by the Gleaner Company.

The recipient of national honour, the Order of Distinction, Rev Archer had always wished for a kidney transplant, after he was hospitalised on December 9 last year due to chronic renal failure.