Having been Jamaica’s point man in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic over the past two years, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton believes he has a duty to share the lessons learnt with university students.

Against this background the former lecturer at The University of the West Indies says he will be offering his service, without charge, to the universities to deliver lecturers on dealing with the crisis.

“I have taken that decision, coming out of the COVID experience, which I believe is a crisis that we shouldn’t waste, both in terms of how we move forward and how we help others behind us to understand the circumstances in which we operated,” Tufton told the Jamaica Observer during a recent interview.

“I almost feel that it is an obligation to share my experiences with the future leaders,” added Tufton.

He argued that the period since the first COVID-19 case was discovered in Jamaica in March 2020 to present has been a very important time in the country’s history and future leaders will benefit by hearing first hand from people like him who have been part of managing the battle against the pandemic.

“They need to hear how it transpired, what was the rational and how, as they emerge in training to become leaders, they could manage the situation better,” said Tufton.

While admitting that the work has been a challenge for health officials at the forefront of the fight, Tufton told the Observer that in his quiet moments he reflects on the journey and the criticisms that he has faced.

“The truth is, after two years the relief I have is that I think we (the Government) did the right things all along, despite any mistakes or miscalculations based on the circumstances at the time. We were never malicious in what we did. We were always deliberate and it was always about the greater good, not individual, personal or stakeholder good.

“It was what satisfied the bigger picture. It was always guided by the science and so my conscience is very clear. I believe the team worked purposefully and diligently, from the PS (permanent secretary) to the CMO (chief medical officer), right down to the contact tracer in the field,” added Tufton as he indicated that he is prepared to continue as the country’s health minister if required.

“I don’t mind remaining where I am to help to transfer some of those lessons. So I am looking forward to helping…to craft the narrative for a post-COVID era, from a public health perspective that would allow us to fight a COVID-type scenario…in a more effective way where the decisions that were made around imperfect information, the experience would have given us perfect vision,” said Tufton.