Health inspectors on edge as colleague tests positive
A HEALTH inspector assigned to the Greater Portmore Health Centre has expressed concern that despite a colleague working in the same office testing positive for COVID-19, other members of staff who were potentially exposed were instructed to report to work yesterday without being tested.
The health inspector, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, said the small office is shared by 11 members of staff.
The Gleaner has been reliably informed that a team of health inspectors from the Greater Portmore Health Centre yesterday conducted an on-site food handlers’ clinic at a large popular food store at the Portmore Centre in the Sunshine City.
When Grayson Hutchinson, chief public health inspector for St Catherine, was contacted for a comment, he first said that he would have to get permission from the medical officer of health for the parish, Dr Francia Prosper-Chen, to speak.
MUM ON SITUATION
However, he later told The Gleaner that he was not in a position to disclose the information requested.
Hutchinson was first asked to confirm whether a member of staff at the Greater Portmore Health Centre had tested positive for COVID-19 late last week.
“I am not at liberty to disclose that information. That information is private. The health department is not at liberty to disclose that i nformation where there is doctor-patient or doctor-client confidentiality,” Hutchinson said.
Asked if he was prepared to allow his staff to interact with the public without first being tested if there was possible exposure, Hutchinson said: “I am not prepared to comment on the issue.
Attempts to reach Prosper-Chen were unsuccessful and a recording indicated that her mailbox was full.
On Sunday, Jamaica recorded seven more COVID-19 deaths, three of which were in St Catherine. The parish is trailing Kingston and St Andrew with 6,043 COVID-19 cases, the second highest in the country. Kingston and St Andrew had 8,877 cases of COVID-19 as at March 14.
On Sunday, St Catherine recorded 205 new cases of the highly contagious virus.