Please remember that @themohwgovjm launched a 10 year strategic plan titled “Vision for Health 2030” in 2019.

In the 44 page document the ministry outlined its 6 strategic goals for the next 10 years.

The issue of Human Resources is addressed in goal 4. Now the question is...

Does the goal as expressed in the plan go far enough?

It doesn’t address specifically any targets related to numbers of doctors nor any substantial best practice benchmark to which Jamaica aspires.

That’s 1 issue, here’s another...

Some of the strategic actions proposed address the some of the concerns expressed by doctors. However several concerns are not addressed.

Also, none of these strategic actions have timelines nor baselines nor specific targets. How do we measure progress?

The other major issue is budget alignment with the MOHW strategic plan.

No matter how grand your plans, assuming they are comprehensive in addressing the problems, they are meaningless without the budget to support it.

And now, how has COVID-19 affected budget & plans?

We don’t have a target doctor|patient ratio

You could hire 100 doctors now, if you’re not addressing the environment, infrastructure, resources, pay, working conditions, benefits, etc the only thing you’ll have is 100 more fed up Drs desperately seeking to exit the system