( Real News Antigua) Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP) D.Gisele Isaac is yet another person highlighting the poor performance of Health
Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph.
Joseph has been receiving harsh criticism from all quarters, with
some members of the public christening him “the worst minister of
health in the history of Antigua and Barbuda” – although he has
been knighted for his services.
Isaac says that Sir Molwyn has proven himself to be massively
incompetent, with every aspect of his ministry and everything under
his portfolio bearing witness to this.
In fact, she says, the healthy and sick, living and dead, have all had
an experience of Sir Molwyn’s ineptitude, and she is amazed by his
indifference to human suffering.
Meanwhile, the UPP is curious to learn how the Sir Lester Bird
Medical Centre – which the Gaston Browne Administration
inherited in pristine condition in 2014, and for which Sir Molwyn
has had oversight for 10 years – has deteriorated so badly.
She notes that the UPP ran the hospital for five years and did not
encounter all the issues for which Sir Molwyn is seeking to cast
blame – such as mold, a non-functioning air-condition system, and
rodent infestation.
Isaac also chastises Sir Molwyn for claiming the hospital has no
operations manuals and giving that as the reason for many of the
issues impacting the medical facility.
According to Isaac, no one accepts the health minister’s excuse,
since even a toaster oven comes with a manual.
Looking at what has taken place at the cemeteries and the clinics,
among other areas, Iaaac states that there is nothing Sir Molwyn can
say, with confidence, that he has done well.
Rather, there is total confusion in the public healthcare system, she
declares.
She notes that the issue of health does not wear “party colours,”
since anyone can have an emergency situation requiring medical
treatment.
In the meantime, Isaac says she is not blaming the doctors and
nurses at the hospital for the conditions in which they have to work,
and she credits them with doing the best they can with the resources available.
Ultimately, she says, the buck stops with Sir Molwyn.
