Dr Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health and Wellness and Campaign Chairman, Jamaica Labour Party, has implied that Dr Alfred Dawes is wrong in his assumption that more mothers die in childbirth than 30 years ago.

With grand experience from being in office in the past two terms, Tufton blasted the health proposal made by the People’s National Party (PNP) at its manifesto launch on Tuesday, August 12, which the opposition hopes to implement if voted into power on September 3.

At the launch of the PNP’s manifesto, Dawes, a medical practitioner and opposition spokesperson on health, confidently said more mothers now die in childbirth than 30 years ago, more babies are dying than 10 and 20 years ago, and more Jamaicans are now suffering under the health care sector.

Under a PNP government, Dawes said, “We will end the lies that a dead baby a day at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital is due to prematurity, by building a proper neonatal ICU at the Bustamante Hospital for Children… the largest pediatric hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean.”

He also pitched to save mothers from dying in labour with improved antenatal care, rather than blaming the mothers. Dawes said the PNP will bring “nothing short of comprehensive reform of the entire healthcare sector is acceptable”.

Speaking at the JLP media conference on Thursday, August 14, Tufton said that maternal mortality is actually trending down. In the COVID years, he said, it was just over 200, and it is now 133 maternal mortalities a year ago.

“Again, in keeping with the cut-and-paste approach, a number of things were suggested within the health portfolio that we are addressing. They speak about maternal care, and I know they’ve made some issues with that in the past year,” Tufton said.

“We have done a number of things to impact maternal mortality, improving engagements with mothers early in their pregnancy, governance and monitoring, facilities and equipment that have been upgraded, a lot more engaging approach at the primary health care level,” he said.

He also said the statistics indicate that last year, some 45 per cent of mothers visited health centres to get medical care and support and advice, as opposed to almost half of that number three years prior, and after the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic ended.

“We are seeing significant improvements, and those improvements will continue, and what they’re proposing in their manifesto is what we are actually doing,” Tufton said.

He also said the PNP’s manifesto alludes to the National Health Fund and the expanded care that the PNP proposes to provide, but he said that since 2015, nine conditions of illness have been added to the NHF.

“So, the government has actually expanded coverage under the National Health Fund. We have added sickle cell disease, lupus, cervical cancer, Attention Deficit Disorder, colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma, lung cancer, Parkinson’s disease and thyroid disease. In other words, these were areas that were not covered under the PNP and are now covered under this administration,” Tufton said.

Tufton boasted that in 2015, less than one million prescriptions were written, but, last year, approximately three million prescriptions were written. There are also more outlets for drug dispensation.

“We are giving more drugs. We are trying more categories of illnesses, and within the appropriate time, when our manifesto is unveiled, we will speak more about the additional role that the National Health Fund will take on,” he said.