The Ministry of Health and Wellness is this Christmas season once again attempting to reduce the number of social cases at the country’s hospitals.

In an appeal earlier today (December 15), Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton urged members of the public who have been informed to pick up their relatives from hospitals across the island, to do so immediately.

Tufton, who was speaking during an end-of-year press conference hosted by his ministry at its office in New Kingston, said persons in hospital that do not require urgent care may be discharged in order to make beds available for the Christmas season, which usually see an increase in road accidents and domestic violence.

“During this time of year, we do release patients who are not critical, because there may be a need to preserve a bed for the anticipated trauma cases which normally spike during this season,” Tufton said.

“The other issue we have with hospitalisation during the season, would be the social cases and again every year we appeal around the issue. It has become a recurring theme this time of year,” Tufton continued.

Under the Public Health Act, the hospital is a place of safety, and this is one of the main reasons why there are so many social cases within the hospital.  

“The hospital is a place of safety, therefore we can’t put people out on the street and we don’t put people out on the street, legally or morally it would be a wrong thing to do and so Jamaicans take advantage of that by dropping their relatives at the hospital door an leaving them there in order for them to have a hassle free festive season. Now that is not in keeping with the season ethically, morally or otherwise. The hospitals are not a baby sitting or day care facility,” the minister said.

Tufton said those individuals who are left behind by family end up becoming part of the social welfare services.

“They become a social case. We have to feed them, they take up bed space, doctors still have to examine them because they need attention and really it deprives those who are genuinely ill and need the attention from being served.”

With this, the minister is reiterating his call for members of the public to refrain from abandoning their loved ones.

“I want to make an appeal again to the public, make some alternative arrangements the truth is these persons who are mostly the elderly would have been good to you, they would have lived their lives supporting those who are now responsible for them, and that kind of treatment betrays the responsibility that you have,” Tufton pleaded.

The ministry said it was necessary to make these hospital beds available for other members of the public, who are in need of hospital care, and in doing so abandoned patients are sometime placed in care homes.

“This sometimes result in the homes becoming overcrowded and so we want to discourage the practice. If we have evidence of it, we will call you out on it. So please try and avoid leaving your relatives at hospitals,” Tufton stated.

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