Opposition Spokesman on Health Dr Morais Guy says he is concerned that the public health care sector will suffer under the Government’s Code Care system, which seeks to engage private health facilities to clear surgical backlog.

While speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (October 19), Guy tabled six questions to the Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton about the Code care project.

Under Code Care, the Government aims to conduct 1,000 surgeries that were put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 10 months through a public-private partnership.

The programme also seeks to engage medical professionals in the diaspora to clear the backlog of surgeries.

The questions asked surrounded the budget for Code Care, the budget for the public-private surgical partnership programme, number of contracts signed, private medical facilities to be contracted and how much various surgeries would cost at these private facilities.

Speaking with Our Today, Guy shared that he was not opposed to the project as he believes it will be a “tremendous benefit to citizens overdue for surgery”.

But, he posed these questions because he was particularly concerned about aspects of the partnership and how it may affect the public health sector.

Guy said he wants to ensure the partnership programme which sees the private sector conducting surgeries “does not get more funding or that funding is inappropriately applied and then cause our public hospitals not to be in a position to offer those same services”.

Guy also shared with Our Today that these concerns hinge on a particular incident that happened in Trinidad and Tobago where a similar partnership was established.

“Years ago, the Government in Trinidad underwent a similar programme and a study from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus found that there was a large amount of funding for this private deal and the public hospitals were neglected,” said Guy.

He added that some of the public hospitals in Jamaica have poor infrastructure that prevent them from working efficiently and these issues need to be addressed.

“At the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), they had a pipe breaking in the ceiling of the theatre. The Spanish Town Hospital main operating theatre was also out of commission for more than three months,” he shared.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, in its announcement around the establishment of Code Care, noted that it was aware of the infrastructure issues at public hospitals.

As such, under Code Care, approximately $300 million is being dedicated to repair and maintain the island’s public operating systems.