Ministry Pursuing Audit of Enhanced Healthcare Delivery Programme
By: , November 6, 2023
Photo: Serena Grant
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, addresses the official handover ceremony for the newly renovated Cambridge Health Centre in St. James on November 2. The ceremony was also used to launch the Compassionate Care Programme at the facility.
Photo: Serena Grant
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (left), and Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for St. James Southern, Hon. Homer Davis, greet clients at the newly renovated Cambridge Health Centre in St. James during a tour of the facility, which was officially handed over on November 2.The Full Story
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says steps are being taken to audit the Ministry’s Enhanced Healthcare Delivery Programme.
This, he indicated, is being pursued against the background of concerns raised by clients regarding the state of critical equipment utilised as part of the programme, noting that they have advised that these invariably malfunction.
“I have asked the Permanent Secretary to write to the Auditor General to do an audit of the programme, because I need to satisfy myself that the programme is not being abused,” Dr. Tufton stated.
He made the disclosure while addressing the official handover ceremony for the newly renovated Cambridge Health Centre in St. James on November 2.
The occasion was also used to launch the Compassionate Care Programme at the facility.
Dr. Tufton said part of the Enhanced Healthcare Delivery Programme’s audit “is going to have to be, [for instance] if you have a new CT scan or a new X-ray machine, what is the service-level arrangement that you have in place to deal with that? [Further] why would it be breaking down so often as reported by patients?”.
He informed that approximately 139,000 Jamaicans have, so far, benefited under the programme, adding that “I am of the belief that this system has outlined its useful purpose in many ways”.
However, Dr. Tufton said he was concerned that it could “potentially [be] the subject of abuse” and declared that “we are going to have to deal with it”.
The Enhanced Healthcare Delivery Programme is a public-private partnership that was launched by the Government in 2019.
It was created to outsource critical diagnostic services, such as computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests, to private medical facilities, so that patients can receive more streamlined healthcare delivery at a reasonable pace.
The Cambridge Health Centre was renovated by the National Health Fund ( NHF) at a cost of more than $60 million by the National Health Fund (NHF).
It will benefit some 4,000 residents of Cambridge and its environs.
The Compassionate Care Programme, which is sponsored and coordinated by the NHF, aims to improve services delivered at all hospitals and health centres by introducing a patient-centred approach to care.