Dear Editor,

Nothing has captured the country’s imagination, lately, quite like the tragic revelation of the months-long bacterial outbreak that claimed the lives of 12 newborns delivered at the anglophone Caribbean’s only public maternity facility, Victoria Jubilee Hospital.

As if that were not devastating enough, Dr Christopher Tufton, minister with responsibility for health and wellness, seemed to have believed that there was no need to make the issue public and create unnecessary “hysteria” as by the time he was briefed the problem was under control and investigations were ongoing.

The last time I checked, Minister Tufton is a member of a democratically elected Government, whose primary stakeholder is the citizenry.

It is obvious to me that the health minister, who seems, in my opinion, to have become increasingly preoccupied with his own image, resorted to the totalitarian tropes to buy himself time. Time to figure out how to control the narrative and to minimise the potential fallout.

Naturally, parallels have been made between this spate of neonatal infections and those of 2015, when the then Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson was involuntarily reassigned to another ministry due to mounting pressure for his resignation. Minister Tufton, however, has desperately sought to distinguish himself from his predecessor by citing his own track record, which he seems to think exempts him from reproach. But doing one’s job and having privileged access to the resources of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) does not an immunity provision make.

This health-care scandal continues to provoke more questions. Is Dr Tufton a public official or an international celebrity? Has he become a law unto himself? Is he out of control and needs to be reined in by a still-to-date silent prime minister? What else is being hidden from us, the hard-working taxpayers of this seemingly oblivious nation? To whom does Dr Tufton ultimately answer, a sovereign Jamaica or intergovernmental multinationals?

While the bereaved struggle for answers, I would like to remind everyone’s “favourite minister” that “the higher monkey climb, the more him expose”. And you, Dr Tufton, for better or for worse, are now in the hot seat.

Desmond Edwards

desmondedwards791@gmail.com