GENERAL Secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party Dr Horace Chang has asked the Cabinet to look into the management of the health sector by Dr Fenton Ferguson, claiming that the minister was failing to provide proper leadership at the Ministry of Health.

“The country is currently gripped by a chikungunya epidemic, especially the eastern parishes, and all the minister has done is try to cast blame on others for his failures and inefficiencies. The country needs action as many Jamaicans are suffering and institutions, such as schools, are suffering,” Chang said in a press release.

“It is clear that the minister and the relevant authorities are not doing enough to deal with the current epidemic, and nowhere is this more apparent that in the minister of health’s own constituency,” said Chang. The minister should be ashamed that he cannot even protect his own constituents from this virus,” he added.

Chang also alleged that Ferguson’s management of the Ministry of Health was wanting as there were myriad challenges currently facing the sector.

He said: “Recent issues at the KPH, Victoria Jubilee, Cornwall Regional and Bustamante Hospital for Children demonstrate the lack of proper leadership in the sector, and the blame should be laid squarely at his feet. The minister is failing the health sector: failing the patients, workers and the people of Jamaica, this is also evidence of the insensitivity of the PNP Government to the health needs of poor Jamaicans.”

She said if the Government had heeded the warnings of the various JLP spokespersons, such as MPs Desmond McKenzie and Dr Ken Baugh, “then this current epidemic would not be so devastating.

“We warned about the bushing and garbage problems and the Government accused us of playing politics. Now that the people are feeling the pain of this debilitating virus, the country finally knows who has been politicising their safety and health. While the minister continues to deny what is happening on the ground, it is the people of Jamaica who are feeling the pain.”