BAILEY

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

Dr. Alverston Bailey, president of the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ), has suggested that the Government implement a national triage system in hospitals, whereby doctors will deal with real emergencies and force persons with minor ailments to visit health centres for treatment.

Dr. Bailey's suggestion comes on the heels of the Government's implementation of free health care for children/citizens under 18, which took effect on Monday.

Parents at the Bustamante Hospital for Children on Monday complained that they were forced to wait for long periods before their children were seen by doctors.

In explaining the triage system, the MAJ president said when a patient visits the casualty department and is assessed, a card would be given to them.

Colour coded

That card, he said, would be colour coded, with a red card being for patients who require immediate attention, yellow very urgent, green urgent and blue not urgent.

These patients, he explained would then sit in areas based on the colour cards they received and would then be seen by a doctor based on the urgency of their condition.

"So if you have a sore throat or a rash on your hand, you will go to the blue line and you might stay there for the entire day," said Dr. Bailey.

"The rationale behind that is to ensure that persons understand that A&E (Accident and Emergency) is for emergency, and not for coughs and colds," he toldThe Gleaner yesterday. Dr. Bailey noted that there was no reason for any child to go to the casualty unit for routine medical, because that is the purpose of the 348 health centres.

Under the new free health care system for children, patients can access surgery, X-ray, laboratory, hospital stay, and medication.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com