Paulette Lowe-Willis

The saga continues.  Free health care for all Jamaicans was  obviously another careless campaign promise by the Jamaica  Labor Party (JLP).  Free health care for all Jamaicans  can never work successfully.

I tested the system about six months ago.  I twisted my ankle and after  two days of pain  Ivisited my closest free health care facility.  I  arrived at the Savanna-la-Mar,Westmoreland  Hospital at approximately 7:50a.m.  My waiting time to see the triage physician was only 35 mins.  I relayed my medical problem to the doctor, but the doctor was obviously so overwhelmed by the amount of patients he had already seen and the amount of patients waiting in the Emergency room to be seen, that he never  said one word to me.  He didn’t look at the affecred area, he didn’t touch the affected area,he didn’t take any vitals,he said nothing to me.  All he did was to hand  me a prescription, without even asking me  any medical history(are you allergic to any medication?).  I started to ask a question relating to my injury but all he did was point to the prescription he had given me and told the nurse “next”. My visit to the doctor’s desk lasted about three minutes. I sought out the line to fill the prescription but was told that no more prescriptions  would be filled for the day.  It was now 8:30a.m. and the daily quota of 100  patients seen at the prescription window had been reached. I asked the person monitoring the prescription line  what could I do to fill the prescription and was told to return another day or go to a private pharmacy.  ( Free prescription drugs are part of the free health care program).

Bruce Golding knew, when he promised Free Health Care for all Jamaicans, that  it was not feasible, as we did not have the financial resources to make such  a program successful.  Bruce and his cronies played on the needs and wants of the Jamaican people  in order to get votes.  What a shame. What a disgrace. This is so low ,even  for Bruce.  Promises,Promises,Promises.