Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has defended the state of Jamaica’s public health sector in the wake of claims by the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) that the service is facing a major crisis.

“It is a term that tends to be used loosely, in a hyperbolic kind of description to undermine confidence in the system and discredit the professionals who serve hundreds of thousands of patients each day,” Tufton said during a tour of the four recently reopened major operating theatres at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) on Friday.

After being shuttered for six weeks, the operating theatres are again fully operational, and Tufton told journalists on the tour that procedures have resumed at KPH and a sense of normality is returning to Jamaica’s oldest public hospital.

“We save lives every day, but we have challenges,” Tufton admitted as he pointed to the infrastructural issues at KPH.

According to Tufton, the 240-plus year-old KPH plant, with outdated infrastructure, has suffered from decades of underinvestment.

“We need to build a new KPH,” Tufton said, repeating a view he has frequently made.

“We’re in an advanced stage of discussions regarding lands in and around the area. It’s logistically challenging, given the hospital’s dense urban setting, but Cabinet is fully briefed and supportive,” added Tufton.

The operating theatres were shut down for numerous reasons, including the failure of the air conditioning units and mould infestation.

This sparked widespread concern and questions about the state of the country’s public health sector as KPH is the largest trauma facility in the island.

But the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), which manages the facility, said extensive renovation work, at a cost of $24 million, was done on the operating theatres, including wall repairs, mould remediation treatment, the addition of new sluice equipment in the sluice room, servicing of the air conditioning units, and replacement of defective doors.

The restored theatres are among 10 at KPH, including some used jointly with the neighbouring Victoria Jubilee Hospital. Three additional theatres are still undergoing work.

“We had to share facilities at [National] Chest [Hospital], UWI [University Hospital of the West Indies], and Bustamante Hospital [for Children] while these were down. But now that KPH has resumed surgeries on-site, those facilities can return to their regular capacity,” said Tufton as he admitted that maintenance has been a persistent issue at KPH and called for an audit of the hospital’s maintenance systems.

“We must be fit for purpose. Even if we have to import them [additional technical competencies], I make no apologies for it because lives depend on it,” declared Tufton.

He pointed to the ongoing US$40-million project at Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, and the under-construction Western Children and Adolescents Hospital in Montego Bay, St James, as examples of the Government’s commitment to upgrading health infrastructure.

“KPH won’t be left out,” added Tufton.