DLP calls out government ministers over QEH crisis

The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has placed responsibility for the ongoing crisis at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) squarely on Minister of Health Senator the Most Honourable Dr Jerome Walcott and Minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Davidson Ishmael.

The criticism follows an emergency meeting convened this week by Prime Minister Mia Mottley with medical consultants at the QEH, amid mounting pressure on the country’s main public healthcare facility.

In a statement issued on Saturday, DLP spokesperson for Health and Wellness, Senator Andre Worrell, said the severe pressures now facing the country’s public hospital did not emerge overnight but were the result of long-standing failures within the Ministry of Health. He argued that repeated warnings from doctors, nurses, patients and the Opposition about shortages of staff, medication, equipment and effective management had gone unheeded.

The opposition spokesperson pointed to proposals made in a previous press release in which the DLP called for an immediate national response, including extended operating hours at polyclinics, an emergency staffing initiative, evening family and general practitioner clinics at the QEH, and urgent financial support to the Drug Service and the hospital to stabilise supplies of drugs and essential equipment.

Senator Worrell again called for the recommissioning of the Harrison Point Facility to help relieve pressure on the QEH, arguing that the measure has been repeatedly ignored despite worsening overcrowding and increasing strain on staff.

Beyond the QEH, the party highlighted ongoing issues across the wider health system. These include conditions at the Geriatric Hospital at Beckles Road, delays in the opening of the Waterford facility originally slated for November 2025, staff shortages at the Psychiatric Hospital, and resource constraints within the polyclinic network. (BT)