Patient urges help for public hospitals as bed shortage worsens
Chief medical officer says no immediate solution in sight
Kaye Rowe used to disbelieve the social media posts from persons who said they had to lay on the floor or sit on chairs while admitted at local hospitals until the day she had her own experience.
“I didn’t have to lay on the floor or bench, but I had to sit in a chair for hours after being admitted and receiving oxygen. My feet were both swollen like a giant balloon; my back and shoulders were in so much pain, it was unbelievable,” she recounted.
The St. Elizabeth resident said she had gone to the Mandeville Regional Hospital for surgery and was expected to spend only a few hours in recovery and be released the same day. However, the anaesthesiologist realised she was having difficulty breathing and started to ask her some questions. After checking her vitals, Rowe was informed that the surgery could not be done and that she would need to be admitted to the hospital and have a CT scan done because a blood clot was in her lung.
Rowe recounted that she was sent with a nurse down to Accident & Emergency to be admitted. Although she was at the hospital from 7 am, she was concerned that at 1 pm that day, she was still not on oxygen. It wasn’t until after 2 o’clock that she was given any attention, and by that time her blood pressure had shot up so high that they had to give her a triple dose of blood pressure medications.
“From there on, the nightmare began with me sitting up in a chair for hours until 8 pm that night when a beach lounge chair and a mattress was sourced for me by my guardian angel, and that was when I got some pain medications and was able to lay down. There were people who said they were sitting in chairs from as far as Monday and Tuesday, and it was now Thursday; my heart bled for them because some were old people,” she said.
Although she had surgery the following day and was given very good care thereafter, Rowe shared her experience on social media and made an appeal for more beds to be placed in the hospitals.
“I don’t know about the other hospitals personally, but I do know about Mandeville Regional Hospital and would very much love if the powers that be could get some beds in there. Also, if those who are out there and can afford to donate, even one from each person, it would go a far way in easing the discomfort of the sick who are admitted and have to sit in chairs for days while getting treatment before a bed becomes available for one patient to lay down. Trust me when I tell you, it’s not easy to be ill and having to sit on a chair for days with a drip in your arm or an oxygen mask over your face, or both at the same time,” she appealed.
Cecil Campbell, who was taken to the May Pen Hospital on July 13 this year to receive treatment for schizophrenia, died after waiting days for a bed. Upon being admitted that Saturday, he was placed in a wheelchair, and according to his sister, a restraining strap was placed on his ankle. When she visited on Monday, he was still in the clothes he was admitted in, even though she brought a change of garment.
“I went back there on Thursday to take change of clothes and water, and he was still in the wheelchair and strapped. By the time I did my business and was in the town of May Pen seeking a taxi to get home, I got a call that there was an emergency and I should return. The doctor on duty informed me that he got up from the chair to stand and fell back down unresponsive. They were not able to revive him. The official cause of death given was cardiac arrest,” she recounted.
Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-Mckenzie
“I am not really upset with the doctors; they are doing the best they can to work with what they have been given, but the government must ensure that health care is a priority. You can’t have sick people in pain, seated for days while being admitted. What’s the sense of talking about health and wellness when, while you are ill, you can’t even get a bed to sleep on while you are being treated?” she said.
Concerns have been raised from several quarters about the shortage of beds at hospitals islandwide, and photos have been shared on social media showing people sleeping in wheelchairs and even on mattresses on hospital floors.
During a Ministry of Health and Wellness Press Conference on MPOX last month, the country’s chief medical officer, Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-Mckenzie, said that the hospitals right across the country are overwhelmed with the number of cases coming into the emergency department.
“There is a huge demand for hospital beds. Now as we come closer to the end of the year, we find that those numbers usually tend to increase, because we have an increase in respiratory cases, as well as an increase in trauma, as well as we do have an increase in the number of cases that are coming in with complications of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, because persons tend to become non-compliant towards the end of the year,” she said.
She encouraged Jamaicans to visit the primary healthcare facilities first before going to the hospital, as those who are not in need of emergency services often help to divert the attention from those who are definitely supposed to be in A&E.