Health minister again scolds people who abandon loved ones at hospitals in Jamaica

JAMAICA OBSERVER: While thousands of Jamaicans enjoyed the recent holidays with relatives and friends, it was a tough time for those who were in hospitals across the island after being abandoned by relatives because they are elderly or sickly.

The cold behaviour has not gone unnoticed by Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton who, during a recent tour of Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, again appealed to Jamaicans to stop the practice of abandoning their elderly, sick relatives at hospitals, particularly during the Christmas period.

According to the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), there are 34 people abandoned at hospitals (usually referred to as social cases) in the region.

The 34 comprise 17 at Princess Margaret Hospital; 13 at Linstead Hospital; and two at Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre; and two at Bustamante Hospital for Children.

There are instances of some of these people remaining in hospital for many years.

“Find a way around using the hospital as a disposal site, because you may be the one needing the hospital services if you’re not careful, and that may affect the care that can be given to you,” Dr Tufton said.

December 27, 2024

“Beyond that, it’s just not the right thing to do. So we want to discourage that,” he added.

The health minister lamented that people tend to take advantage of the health-care system, especially during the holidays because under the Public Health Act hospitals are obligated to take in people who are not well.

“During this period of year we do have situations where some family members use the hospital as an infirmary to drop their relatives off… and essentially not see them until after the season, if at all afterwards.

“It puts a lot of strain on the system. So we want to discourage that and encourage those who do that to desist. It’s just an unethical practice, but more importantly, it affects patient care. So try and avoid that, spend some time with your senior citizens,” he said.

The abandonment of relatives at hospitals is a perennial problem that has been facing the health sector for many years. It impacts the number of beds normally available for regular patients.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet media briefing in August last year, Dr Tufton said that at any point in time about 10 per cent of hospital beds islandwide are occupied by people who are not supposed to be there.

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“Their relatives have abandoned them and they live in the hospitals and the infirmaries are already overcrowded [as] we have transferred a lot to our infirmaries. I have worked very closely with Minister [of Local Government and Community Development Desmond] McKenzie,” he said.

Since last year, the ministries of health and wellness and local government and community development have been collaborating to expand infirmaries as part of efforts to resolve the issue of social cases at public hospitals.

Even as this is done, Dr Tufton indicated that the Government is still exploring the option of legislative changes to tackle the issue.

He had announced in 2021 that the Government would look at pursuing legal action against family members who abandon their relatives when that evidence was there. The plan was to begin the process of filing civil suits against these people.

The minister noted, however, that he has been awaiting a definitive position from the Attorney General’s office.

He said the indicative position has been that the Government may not have jurisdictional responsibility to pursue the matter at that level and it may mean legislative changes.

“I have not gotten that firmly as yet, which is what has prevented us from going to the courts already,” he said then.

Tufton had previously lamented that there are cases of family members who exploit their abandoned relatives’ situation and are taking advantage of their assets where these assets exist.

Through the ministry’s social work case management process, families have been identified that are able to support the care and treatment of these social cases but have refused to take on the responsibility.

In addition, the ministry has seen cases of abandoned patients receiving pension from overseas but relatives have refused to use these funds to support their relatives in hospital or other care.

According to the health minister, some people have also rented the property of their sick relatives and refuse to use these resources to care for the owners of the property. And if the patient passes, the relatives who abandoned them turn up asking for their death certificate to claim the deceased’s assets.

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