Recently, I saw a patient with symptoms highly suspicious of a severe case of the H1N1 flu - high fever, generalised body pains, incapacitating weakness, productive coughing, a noisy chest and rapid respiration. After consulting with her mother, I immediately referred her to a major public hospital. I highlighted her provisional diagnosis and difficulty breathing on the front of the envelope.

Later, I telephoned her sister to ascertain her progress, but was mortified to learn that someone on the health-care team placed a barrier mask on her face and parked her somewhere in the casualty department. After about four and a half hours, her accompanying relatives (rightfully) became worried that she might die so they assisted her to leave and seek help at another hospital.

Her experience has left many convinced that the medical staff was uncommunicative, careless, callous and cruel, but I will reserve pointing a finger at the overstretched personnel there. With so many varied trauma victims arriving throughout the day and night, for now, I will assume that, in spite of her obvious physical distress, triaging determined that my very ill patient had to wait on more life-threatening situations.

Source of problem

Friends and family members of seriously ill patients have told me of (let me just say) 'very bad things' happening to their suffering sick while they wait (sometimes in vain) at public hospital emergency rooms for help that was so near yet so far away - because of gunshot, stab wound, blunt trauma and motor vehicle crash victims.

Honestly, I don't see our crime rate plummeting any time in the near future. There are far too many people - from the very top to the very bottom of our society - who remain unaccountable, untouchable and, in some way, benefit from corruption and criminality (the two are identical twins). We may intensify the things that we do to fight this dastardly duo, but (as a nation) we remain too timid to dig out the root. I suppose there are too many skeletons in too many closets.

Additionally, there are many desperate, angry and volatile people accustomed to settling differences with violence and then cowardly running away and hiding from the consequences or intimidating others into keeping their dirty secrets. It may take decades to inculcate a spirit of oneness, honesty, self-reliance, patriotism, true political freedom and industry to turn Jamaica around.

Road hogs aplenty

And, from all indications, too many of our road users are imbeciles, ignoramuses, road hogs and hustlers (Coaster bus and route taxi drivers). They have every intention to continue bullying decent drivers and getting away with doing whatever they please on the roads. Passengers obviously like it when they get ahead of the traffic even if their lives are put at risk. We just don't have enough police to cover this widespread travesty and the authorities are still thinking inside the box on this situation.

In a country where trauma statistics sometimes rival those of established theatres of war, it is unsound to have all emergency rooms handling trauma victims and other medical emergencies (cardio-vascular emergencies, severe infections, naturally-occurring surgical emergencies and the extremely long list of things that will go wrong with our bodies) at the same place and with the same staff. Triaging often puts everyday medical emergencies (even some serious ones) behind trauma cases.

We need trauma centres (specialised emergency rooms with minor and major operating theatres) operating independently from regular emergency rooms. Our level of violence and other trauma are putting severe strain on our resources and medical staff, thus endangering the lives of other patients.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Feedback may be sent to garthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.