‘Highway for abuse’

The Government-appointed committee reviewing the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) has found that decades-old legislation governing the institution created loopholes that turned parts of its activities into a “highway for abuse”.

Head of the review committee, veteran attorney Howard Mitchell is calling for sweeping reforms to the 1948 University Hospital Act, arguing that the legislation must be modernised to close accountability gaps and bring the hospital’s governance structure in line with present-day realities.

The committee found that the faulty legislation allowed the hospital to lose billions of dollars while leaving thousands of Jamaicans without proper medical treatment at one of Jamaica’s premier medical facilities.

See stories on pages 4 & 5.