THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has come out in support of its leader, Andrew Holness, who is facing criticism from members of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) over his social media post of a picture showing patients inside of one of the country’s hospitals.

The Opposition also used the opportunity to blast minister with responsibility for information, Sandrea Falconer, who in turn levelled criticism against Holness on social media site Facebook.

In a statement yesterday, the JLP said that it is the duty of the Opposition leader to bring the bad state of the hospitals to the attention of public.

“We are staunchly defending a social media post made yesterday morning by Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, which depicted the crammed space in a hospital where patients could be seen in extremely close proximity to each other with one patient on a bed and the other, a seemingly elderly man, hustled up against the bed on what appears to be a gurney with no mattress to provide comfort,” the JLP said.

“We note that despite the horrible findings of the health audit, it could never truly capture what the picture did, and as Leader of the Opposition, we feel it is Mr Holness’ duty to bring such grave matters to the attention of the public so as to spark debate on critical national issues.”

The party reiterated its pledge that, should it form Government after the next general election, it would “provide better management of Jamaica’s health sector as the party feels that all Jamaicans, whether rich or poor, deserve to go to the hospital and receive adequate care and attention”.

“We also wish to point out that the last Jamaica Labour Party administration increased the health-care budget every year, unlike the current PNP administration which cut the budget. That cut is reflected in the quality of health care being provided in the nation’s hospitals,” the party said, noting that the party leader will “not be silenced and will continue to champion the cause of those Jamaicans whose plight is consistently ignored or swept under the carpet by the PNP.”