MINISTER of Health Dr Christopher Tufton has urged the island’s health-care managers to use their knowledge and expertise to provide creative solutions to challenges facing the sector.

Late last year Tufton charged that Jamaicans are not receiving service that reflects the significant investment the Government is making to enhance and develop the public health infrastructure

At that time Tufton said, “The problem is that, for the first time in any period of an Administration we have money to spend to support the buildout of our infrastructure, to hire more people, to provide service, to put in air conditioning, clean bathrooms, lunch rooms, and conference rooms and pharmacies to provide medication, and sometimes we do not appreciate enough that we have come a long way in having the resources to spend.

“You cannot be in a situation where you are upgrading and expanding, but it is not equating to a better quality of service. This is a message as much for the managers and the leaders in public health as it is for the stakeholders, who support the buildout [of health facilities] and the maintenance of that buildout.”

On Tuesday, while addressing a graduation ceremony for 42 managers at various levels of the public health system, Tufton called on them to look at different measures to address the problems facing the sector.

“The solution does not have to be normal. It does not have to follow a strict protocol… Indeed, even when the rules say do it a particular way, if you can get an exemption, you must advocate for that exemption,” said Tufton as he addressed managers who successfully completed a leadership training programme, done in collaboration with the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica.

Tufton, in commending the graduates, urged them to use the knowledge gained to make a difference in the public health system.

“While it is absolutely necessary for you to engage in a process of knowledge acquisition around leadership and management and its basic principles, understand that the most important principle that you will leave this process with, is how you use the circumstances that are before you to apply the discipline to solve problems,” added Tufton.

The health minister called on the various councils in healthcare and medicine to engage in a process of leadership and reflection to determine, “to what extent certain traditions are still relevant for what we need to do today and what is best for the future”.

He pointed out that institutions like UTech and policymakers need to lead that charge.

The graduation ceremony was held under the theme ‘Expanding Borders, Building New Bridges in Healthcare, Embracing Transformational Leadership,’ and was designed to equip health-care professionals and management executives with critical skills in leadership and management.

The training programme was designed to enable greater organisational effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of health-care services at health centres, hospitals, and health departments.

Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton (right) presents an award to medical officer of health for Clarendon Dr Kimberly Scarlett-Campbell, who was one of the top performers in a leadership training programme undertaken by the ministry in collaboration with University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica. (Photo: JIS)