WHEN 70-year-old Errol McKenzie was admitted to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) for a kidney stone removal more than a year ago, his doctor said he was surrounded by family members who visited often and tended to his every need.

However, when it was time for him to be discharged from the hospital, everyone vanished.

“Them dash me weh,” were the words of the heartbroken father of three, who begged his children to visit.

“I paid my dues. I looked after my kids — two boys and one girl. I don’t know what their mother tells them, but none of them come visit me,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“I am here in the hospital. Will you please come and pay your father Errol George McKenzie a visit? Please! Don’t let me feel so abandoned,” he pleaded.

He is now considered a social case, which refers to patients who have been abandoned by their relatives at hospitals and other health-care facilities. The issue has been a growing concern for Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who said it is putting a strain on hospital resources.

Reflecting on fond memories he shared with his children, McKenzie said he was an active parent who made sure he was always there for his children. He shared that they loved sports, and he would always find time to play with them — whether it be badminton, swimming, or table tennis.

Heartbroken by their absence, he said he longs to sit with his children and hear about their lives.

“Me woulda like to know what have they been through during this period of absenteeism from me. What have they been up to?” he questioned.

The 70-year-old shared that he loved to hear stories about their adventures and would often engage in thought-provoking conversations with his children. But now, he is left to wonder if they have had kids, switched jobs, or moved to a different location.

“I’m dead sure nobody probably knows I am here, because they have not come to visit,” he reasoned, sure that if they knew his whereabouts, they would visit.

McKenzie said he was admitted to the hospital in critical condition and was likely unconscious when he arrived. He believes he was brought to the medical facility by a stranger who did not inform his family.

However, according to his doctor, it was his family who brought him to KPH.

“He presented with a kidney stone with septic shock. He had to undergo emergency [surgery] to drain an abscess in his side because I think his kidney had ruptured at the time, if I remember correctly. He was in intensive care unit for a while, then came back and was in the critical care cubicle for a while,” the doctor, who requested anonymity, told the Sunday Observer.

“At the time, he had good social support. By the time we got him fit, as in the abscess had stopped draining…He was stabilised, and we said, ‘Okay, we’re just gonna discharge you and bring you back to get your definitive surgery at a later date’, nobody was there,” said the doctor.

The physician said that, at one point, McKenzie was at a home for the elderly before he was brought back to the hospital. He was reportedly kicked out of the home, and since then, he has been on ward 2B at the hospital.

With no visitors to keep him company, the 70-year-old said he wishes he had some books to read to keep his mind active.

A lover of literature, he shared that he enjoys reading all categories, but his favourite are science fiction and romance.

“I wouldn’t mind somebody bring a lot of novels to come lend me. I hate for [my] mind to be lazy,” said McKenzie.

“I can’t make my brain dormant. I like my brain to be working,” he told the Sunday Observer.

A former telecommunication technician at Cable & Wireless, now known as Flow, he shared that he would often spend his days solving complex issues and misses the familiar feeling of the wheels in his brain turning.

This feeling, he said, he could often recapture with reading, but he is without books.

“Now, I just think and meditate,” he said.

“Anything you bring, me will read,” pleaded McKenzie.