Tufton presses accountability push as health workers push back

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is defending a call for stronger accountability across Jamaica’s public health service, arguing the sector’s deepest problems are management and leadership even as some frontline workers accuse him of blaming staff.

Speaking after remarks on his social media page and in a television interview, Tufton said the Government had, over the past decade, put more money into the health budget, expanded hiring, and advanced infrastructure projects — some still not open — while insisting leadership must confront uncomfortable gaps in how the system performs. The public health workforce, he noted, now numbers about 24,000 people, up from under 20,000 when he took office, and he said the system only works when everyone plays their part.

At the signing of an accountability framework, Tufton had said public health does not mainly face a resource shortage but a management and leadership shortfall. Asked whether he stood by that view, he said he does not speak in extremes and acknowledged that extra resources would help in some areas. The framework, he explained, requires the 13 public bodies under health to file annual financial statements — filings some agencies had neglected for years. Regional health authorities that were as much as 12 years behind when he became minister are now about two to three years outstanding, he said, adding that external help is acceptable but that requests for more funding cannot be judged without audited accounts, which the law requires. He framed the cleanup as a 12-to-18-month effort.

Tufton said the health budget had risen from $60 billion to $140 billion over that 10-year span, that doctors and nurses now earn more than administrators, that more prescriptions are reaching patients who need them, and that many health centres have been built or modernised. Major hospital upgrades, he added, include work at Cornwall Regional in St. James and Spanish Town, among others. He maintained that extreme shortages once illustrated by surgeons forced to operate in garbage bags are no longer the norm, and that prioritisation and management remain the central challenge.

Host questioning noted that inflation over the same decade means the budget rise is not a one-for-one real increase. Online reaction has been fierce. One senior doctor wrote that Tufton knows hospitals are not properly equipped, that while some consultants underperform others work long hours and spend their own money to keep services going, and that staff feel abused — leaving doctors angry.

Tufton replied that a handful of social media comments should not be treated as the whole system’s view. He said many departments perform excellently and that quarterly accountability reporting will highlight centres of excellence and strong individual performance, not only failures. He said he expected criticism and wanted an open conversation about the problems.

The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association, the Jamaica Association of Public Dental Surgeons, and the Association of Government Medical Consultants were also due to weigh in on the dispute.