WITH an audit confirming that a number of the country’s public health facilities need to be renovated, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has instructed regional authorities to take corrective action to address concerns raised in June during an islandwide protest by medical interns.

“Having had the draft report, we went through a couple of issues. There is some review that was required by the chief medical officer, and then another discussion to be had with the JMDA (Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association). But the long and short of it is that the report does confirm that there are a number of facilities that are outstanding and requiring some renovation,” he told the Jamaica Observer Tuesday.

The audit was, among other things, an effort to gauge the working and living conditions of medical interns across the public health system.

“A letter has been written to the regional authorities and the specific institutions, with some specific instructions,” the minister said, opting not to be more detailed as the report is to be reviewed by the chief medical officer before the “specifics” are unveiled.

Tufton stressed that the ministry is “committed to working with the JMDA to address the issues”.

The June 24 protest by medical interns resulted from their concerns about what JMDA President Dr Renee Badroe described as “inhumane conditions… brutal work schedules — shifts that sometimes stretch beyond 48 hours straight”.

In a statement in July, Badroe had pointed out that even after these long shifts, there is nowhere suitable for interns to sleep at many of the facilities. In urging the health minister to address the underlying issues the JMDA head said this inability to recuperate adequately can pose a danger to patient care.

On Tuesday Tufton, who had in July told the Observer that he would be inviting the JMDA to the discussion table to discuss the concerns, said that meeting took place two weeks ago. The minister, however, noted that the challenges extended beyond concerns about accommodations.

“This is not just about facilities, it’s also about a couple of other issues — which makes it more complicated than what is being suggested. For one, scheduling of assignments, which is very important, does not just involve the interns but involves direct supervisors. So whether it is the senior house officer or the resident or the consultant, the truth is there are some rules around the number of hours that an intern should work — and the scheduling of their hours is very important. But it’s not done by them so the system needs to be coordinated,” the health minister stated.

He said health officials are now mulling over what approach to take “when these things happen”.

“The other one is the number of interns that are put into the system. The cohort of interns who come into the system is a function of graduands coming out of the medical school or those who qualify, having studied in other institutions outside of Jamaica. In recent times we have seen a relatively low number coming out of university that in itself requires some sort of asks, and we discussed that,” Tufton told the Observer.

He said in relation to students who are entering the system from overseas, a policy has been put in to “ensure consistency of standards”.

“That also will result in some interns not being placed immediately because of the institutions they are coming from and the need for us to establish a consistent standard in the system. S,o all of these are issues which we discussed. It was a good meeting, and we certainly are going to be following up. I want the CMO to review the report before we go into more specifics,” the health minister stated.

Repeated efforts to contact Dr Badroe for comment were unsuccessful on Tuesday.