EHS gone downhill

THE EDITOR: I am deeply saddened by the occurrence involving the Emergency Health Services (EHS) and the person who was knocked down in front of BP and was only able to access care after one hour. After all advice to the Ministers and the little bureaucrats at the Ministry of Health, after all of the talk, this is the result of moving EHS to the Ministry. How could the government take the EHS, an organisation that was operating under strict standards in every area and attach it to the South West Regional health Authority? There are no standards anywhere. What does it matter if it takes one hour to get an ambulance? Who dead, dead as long as “we get we money.”

When EHS had just begun, some of the so-called professionals at the hospitals were extremely upset. I know because I had a sick parent and a sick neighbour who used the service. We were so proud and thankful for EHS in those days. There were standards for everything — arrival times, how patients were handled, how equipment was used. There was constant monitoring of staff. They could not slip. Now anything goes!

ROMA HADDAWAY
Palmiste