Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

SPENCER

The nation should know by Monday where the money will come from to finance the abolition of health fees, according to Rudyard Spencer, minister of health and environment.

The Jamaica Labour Party, in its election campaign last year, promised to abolish the fees if it were to win the September 3 general election. The abolition of fees is to take effect on April 1.

Spencer said his ministry has applied to Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service for funding, adding that by Monday he should receive word on the way forward.

However, The Gleaner understands that the Government is struggling to come up with the funds to abolish health fees in the island's public facilities.

Asked if this was the case, Spencer said the ministry has "options" but will not divulge them until they are discussed with members of the Cabinet.

The Nurses Association of Jamaica this week complained that it was not fully informed about the changes under the new regime.

Spencer said the health ministry was "a little behind time on informing the public" about the new fee regime. He promised that more information would be forthcoming next week and said a press conference would also be held.

Shortfall

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the nation last month that, as a result of the changes in user fees, hospitals would be deprived of approximately $3.5 billion in revenue. He said the Government was committed to providing the shortfall to ensure that patients, especially the very poor, could have access to health care.

Meanwhile, Dr Fenton Ferguson, opposition spokesman on health, said even if the Government gets the funding, the timeline to effect repairs and bring in additional resources would be limited.

"While I laud further liberalisation of the health service, my own view is that the timeline for implementation is going to put a tremendous burden on those who are operating these institutions," Ferguson said.

As at May 28 last year, children under the age of 18 years began receiving free health care at all government hospitals and health facilities, excluding the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Under the new policy, diagnostic services, hospital stay and doctors' fees, drugs and surgeries are among the services provided free at government health facilities.

Some 30,000 visits were made to government health facilities during the first two weeks of implementation. Several problems emerged when free health care for children took effect last year. Insufficient numbers of physicians could not quickly care for the larger-than-usual patient turnout, resulting in longer waiting periods. Also, facilities could not accommodate the increased numbers.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com