Jamaica's Ministry of Health plans to increase spending on security at public healthcare facilities, according to an article on the Jamaica-Gleaner website.
The Ministry of Health is currently spending more than $727 million each year to provide security at the island's public healthcare facilities, but Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton plans to do more to protect them.
The management at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine was forced to increase security measures recently after two medical personnel were attacked. A midwife was forced to seek medical attention after being hit on the hand and threatened by a man at the health facility, while a medical intern who was on her way to collect blood at the hospital's laboratory was attacked by an intruder with a knife, the article said.
Doctors and nurses at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) said they were often preyed upon by criminals on and off the hospital's compound.
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