BIG BILL FOR GUNSHOTS
KPH spends $400,000 a day to treat shooting victims
CRIME AND violence have not only posed a serious threat to the security of Jamaicans, with an average of 28 murders per week and 672 killings up to June 17 this year, but taxpayers are paying a high price for gun conflicts. The Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) alone is spending an estimated $400,000 a day to treat victims of gunshot wounds. In a presentation that left members of a select committee of Parliament stunned, Dr Ann Jackson-Gibson, an anaesthetist at the KPH, revealed yesterday that it has cost the country almost $80 million to treat victims of gun violence at the KPH since the start of the year. At the same time, Dr Elizabeth Ward who, along with Jackson-Gibson, made a joint submission to the special select committee of Parliament examining the Law Reform Zones of Special Operations legislation, said that in 2014, it cost taxpayers $3.68 billion to provide direct medical care to victims of violence at 22 hospitals across Jamaica.
Ward said that the cost of socialintervention programmes in communities dubbed hotspots, which could significantly reduce the burden on hospitals, was $1.3 billion. “Where are we spending our money?” she asked. Ward said that when effective community interventions were being funded in the past, non-governmental organisations were able to reduce by 50 per cent the number of gunshot wounds seen at the KPH. The Zones of Special
Operations bill sets out socialintervention measures to rebuild crime-plagued communities. This would take effect after the prime minister declares an area a zone for special operations, which would allow the security forces to search places, vehicles, or persons within specific locations without a warrant.
Jackson-Gibson pointed out that between January and June 20 this year, 28 persons who received gunshot wounds were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the KPH. Of the 28 persons, four died after being treated for between 20 and 25 days in the ICU.
She told the committee that based on available data, the average gunshot victim stays in the ICU for seven days.