KINGSTON, Jamaica — People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding and his team paid a wellness check and delivered masks and other supplies to the staff at the St Ann’s Bay Hospital on Thursday.

The Opposition leader was accompanied by shadow minister of health and wellness and foreign affairs, Dr Morais Guy and Lisa Hanna, who is also the Member of Parliament for South East St Ann. 

The party said the wellness check confirmed reports from healthcare workers and patients of a strained healthcare system as the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic worsens. 

They expressed that over 50 staff members were out because of COVID-19, that nurses are finding it difficult to cope with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:15 and that many find it hard to travel to work during lockdowns as majority of them rely on public transportation. 

“What we saw at St Ann’s Bay Hospital underscores the need to immediately implement the suggestion made by Opposition Spokesperson on Finance, Julian Robinson, to use surplus funds to improve conditions at healthcare facilities island-wide,” Dr Guy said.

In his presentation at the PNP’s media conference on Friday, August 20, Robinson highlighted that the Government had ended up with a surplus of $9 billion having spent $7.5 billion less than it projected. These funds, he argued, should be used to strengthen our capacity to respond to the worsened pandemic and help make life easier for our vulnerable groups. 

Meanwhile, Hanna said the St Ann’s Bay Hospital is too critical to the welfare and wellbeing of residents and so the Government needs to put resources in place to ensure the facility is able to adequately cater to residents.

The Opposition leader reiterated sentiments shared by both representatives and again called on the Government to take action to safeguard the physical and mental health of healthcare workers as they face unprecedented challenges.

“It is concerning that some 99 per cent of the COVID-19 patients at St Ann’s Bay Hospital are unvaccinated. The team and I are recommitting our support of the vaccination programme, and encourage every Jamaican who is able, to get vaccinated and continue to observe COVID-19 protocols,” Golding said.