Daily Observer (Jamaica)

Whence cometh the balm?

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citizen, which, by the Jamaican Constituti­on, would forbid him from sitting in the Jamaican Parliament.

So, there are matters to be resolved between Horne and the leadership of the PNP. What is clear is that this cannot be allowed to drag on. The Parliament must be properly constitute­d, especially in the midst of a raging pandemic. Horne should acknowledg­e if he is an American citizen. This would settle the matter

operations of the National Emergency Operations Centre, the designated administra­tive hub for coordinati­ng efforts to address the pandemic. This facilitate­s the currency and relevance of the informatio­n that is relied on by the various stakeholde­rs of the health system and the general public. Additional­ly, there is a pilot of an E-HIM initiative in the public health arena which facilitate­s contact tracing.

The Registrar General’s Department (RGD), in response to the COVID-19 crisis, launched the e-burial order for coronaviru­s-related deaths. This facilitate­s the downloadin­g of the burial order by the informant who would not have to visit the RGD’S office. This could well immediatel­y. If he wants to sit in the Senate he should indicate to the nation whether he wants to give up his US citizenshi­p, and thus hold on to his appointmen­t by the governor general to so sit in the House. Time is of the essence here.

In the meantime, the movie grinds on with Damion Crawford, a major actor in the script. In a voice note leaked to the public he is heard venting his disgust at operatives in the

become the new normal in the death registrati­on process.

COVID-19 provided the wonderful opportunit­y to ‘test’ our electronic health informatio­n system. This opportunit­y may have seemed premature even within the National Health Informatio­n System Strengthen­ing & E-health Strategy. Of note, though, the University Hospital of the West Indies has enjoyed the benefits of a hospital informatio­n management system (HIMS) that was implemente­d June 2017, and so informatio­n could be accessed in a digital environmen­t.

What is next?

We don’t know for sure, but one thing is certain, all signs point to the need for the party while embellishi­ng his credential­s as perhaps the most popular person in the party. Under normal circumstan­ces, Crawford’s apparent obsession with self would not be a subject to arrest one’s attention, but he is not an ordinary person in the PNP. As he obviously likes to boast, he received the largest number of votes as a vice-president of the party, which made him think that he could one day be the leader, and thus presumptiv­e prime minister of Jamaica. Furthermor­e, he is a Member of the people’s Parliament, sitting as a member of the Senate for his party. Significan­tly, he has been named by his party leader as the spokesman on culture and entertainm­ent, which may foreshadow a future Cabinet post. Thus, what he says in public should not be brushed aside.

I must confess that over the years of listening to Crawford I have not formed a holistic impression of his politics. He comes across as one who thinks of himself more highly than he ought. In the assessment of my colleague, Garfield Higgins,

accelerate­d implementa­tion of the National Health Informatio­n System Strengthen­ing & E-health Strategy to underpin the Government’s national identifica­tion system (NIDS) initiative. NIDS is coming soon. Even before the ink dried on his instrument of appointmen­t, re-elected prime minister, Andrew Holness proclaimed that, “We would like before the end of the year, this year, that we should be seeking to pass the Bill into law.”

The demographi­c subsystem that is critical to the operations of any national health informatio­n system would have to be integrated in a national database that NIDS would provide. Could this ‘twinning’ be a critical he is a man who seems to be obsessed with credential­s. If he is to have a future in the party, and the country’s political life, I would urge him to cool it. He is a man screaming for relevance, but he does not have to scream so loudly.

I agree that a private conversati­on between himself and another party should not have been leaked, but the person who leaked it must have considered it to be of such import for the public to know of it. Now we know. Crawford must now move to deal with the fallout from this sad episode in his political career. As a vice-president, he should always be thinking of ways in which he can heal the wounds in the party and bring people together, instead of further dividing them. With the number of times he has put his political foot in his mouth, he must have a gargantuan dental bill.

The question must be asked: Lisa, where art thou? Despite what others may say about her former Jamaica Labour

piece of the puzzle? Definitely.

This integratio­n requires a multi-sectoral collaborat­ion ranging from deliberate budgetary allocation on the Government’s part to stringent behaviour change modificati­on of potential users and the public. Prudent health informatio­n practices should prevail to ensure that the users and public are fully cognisant of, and sensitive to the legitimate concerns regarding confidenti­ality, data privacy and protection.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness should proceed to execute the National Health Informatio­n System Strengthen­ing & E-health Strategy to its functional point to facilitate the improvemen­t

The views expressed are not necessaril­y those of the Jamaica Observer.

Party (JLP) credential­s, she rose up to become a serious contender for leadership of the PNP. On the face of it, that is a tremendous feat which must not be overlooked. She and must not allow herself to be relegated to a position of irrelevanc­e, especially by those who are more sound than fury.

The PNP is in a difficult place. It is in deep pain and despair. But the country needs a strong and robust Opposition party. Those who believe in the long-term survival of the party must do everything in their power to ensure its survival and that it bounces back more strongly than before.

It would be foolish to write the political obituary of the PNP. But its leadership and rank and file members must arrest the putrefacti­on that has set in.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentato­r, and author of the book WEEP: Why President Donald J. Trump Does Not Deserve A Second Term. in the quality of health care and increased access to services. HIM education and training will also play critical roles in developing competence­s in this digital space.

Let’s go forward and drive our health delivery system on the wheels of a national e-health informatio­n management platform to assure optimal provision of a worldclass health system.

Today is the 344th day of 2020. There are 22 days left in the year.

1951: The United States invokes its Trading with the Enemy Act to prevent Chinese people in the United States from sending money to Communist China under extortion threats.

1962: Tanganyika becomes republic within British Commonweal­th.

1975: Death toll is put at 160 in two days as war rages between Muslims and Christians in Beirut, Lebanon.

1982: South African troops stage a predawn raid on

Maseru, the capital of Lesotho,

United States.

1905: Separation of Church and state in France is decreed.

1941: China declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1946: Indian Constituen­t Assembly is boycotted by Muslim League. in an effort to kill suspected members of the African

National Congress, the black nationalis­t group banned in South Africa.

1987: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meets with US President Ronald Reagan in Washington one day after the Us-soviet nuclear arms treaty is signed.

1990: Poles elect Solidarity labour union founder Lech Walesa president in free elections.

1991: Gorbachev calls new Commonweal­th of Independen­t States “illegal and dangerous”.

1994: US President Bill

Clinton fires Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after learning she had told a conference that masturbati­on should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality.

1998: British Home Secretary Jack Straw rules that Spain can start proceeding­s to extradite former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Chile withdraws its ambassador from Britain.

1999: US Army private

Calvin N Glover, convicted of bludgeonin­g fellow soldier Barry Winchell to death, is sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutor­s accused Glover of homophobia.

2001: The United States discloses a video in which Osama bin Laden says he was pleasantly surprised by the extent of damage from the Septenber 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvan­ia.

2002: The Indonesian Government and the Free

Aceh Movement sign a peace agreement to end the rebel group’s 26-year-old separatist insurgency in Aceh province, which left as many as 30,000 people dead.

2004: Canada’s Supreme

Court rules that gay marriage is constituti­onal, a landmark opinion allowing the federal government to call on Parliament to legalise same-sex unions nationwide.

2010: In Britain’s worst political violence in years, furious student protesters rain sticks and rocks on riot police, vandalise government buildings and attack a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, after lawmakers approved a controvers­ial hike in university tuition fees.

2011: European leaders agree to redefine their continent — hoping that by joining their fiscal fortunes they might stop a crippling debt crisis, save the euro currency and prevent worldwide economic chaos. Britain says no, risking isolation.

2012: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez heads back to Cuba for a third cancer surgery after naming his vice-president as his choice to lead the country if the illness cuts short his presidency.

2013: American and British intelligen­ce operations have been spying on gamers across the world, media outlets report, saying that the world’s most powerful espionage agencies sent undercover agents into virtiual universes to monitor activity in online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT John Milton, English poet (1608-1674); Karl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (1742-1786); Claude-louis Ertholle, French chemist (17481822); Kirk Douglas, US actor (1916-2020); Bob Hawke, former Australian prime minister (1929-2019); Judi Dench,

British actress (1934-): Beau Bridges, US actor (1941-); John Malkovich, US actor (1953- )

— AP

 ??  ?? Hanna...still has a future in the PNP
Hanna...still has a future in the PNP
 ??  ?? CRAWFORD... thinks much of his credential­s
CRAWFORD... thinks much of his credential­s
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? On this day in the year 1992 Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Britain announce they are separating but have no plans to divorce.
On this day in the year 1992 Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Britain announce they are separating but have no plans to divorce.
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