ST JAMES, Jamaica – Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has refrained from commenting on a statement articulated by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang who called for the police to be trained to shoot to kill when confronted by armed gunmen.

“We have had fatal shootings because men shoot guns after them. I am not telling any policeman to fire back. As I said here in Westmoreland, I am not sending any ambulances out there either. Anytime a man takes up a gun after a police, I expect the commissioner to train them, when he fires he must not miss,” said Dr Chang who is also the Acting Prime Minister.

READ: Chang: 32 alleged gangsters on bail wreaking havoc in Westmoreland

The senior minister, a medical doctor by profession who was addressing a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a $175 million two-storey Frome Police Station in Westmoreland on Thursday said the trauma cases are costing the health sector too much and therefore no assistance should be given to such people.

“I don’t want him [the gunman] to come and give any trouble at the hospital or anywhere. I am not in that business. You go to the hospital, it cost us $10 million to save him life. I am not into that. When criminal see police come, he must surrender,” the minister added.

For his part, Dr Tufton, who shied away from making a direct response agrees with his senior colleague minister about the cost to the health care system. However, he said people in need of help, despite the cause, will get it.

“The public health system responds to all of them, but it is a fact that trauma cases occupy a lot of time in the public health system,” stated Dr Tufton

“We have a policy to treat anybody and everybody that comes to the public health system. And that is just the Public Health Act. We don’t turn anybody away. People may have to wait, but we prioritise based on emergencies and there are a lot of trauma cases, trauma cases related to domestic violence, trauma cases related to violence of one form or another trauma cases related to accidents. Trauma cases related to chronic illnesses, you know, heart attacks and so on. And what we try to do is to ensure that when they come, we respond and whatever their cause or source of pain,” stated Dr Tufton.

The health minister was speaking with OBSERVER ONLINE on Friday following a contract signing ceremony with four private health facilities for the provision of surgeries that have been delayed in the public health system.

The signing took place at the Western Regional Health Authority’s Regional Technical Office in Freeport Montego Bay, St James.

Dr Tufton noted that the costs to the public health system vary depending on the nature of the injury received,

“It could run from hundreds of thousands to millions. It depends on what the patient is traumatised by. How long they have to stay in A&E (Accidents and Emergency), whether they have operating theatre time or whether they have aftercare time in the hospital system. So, it ranges but it is a big part of the response,” said Dr Chang.

– Anthony Lewis