Hospitals feeling side effects of Christmas

There is a reported spike in patients being hospitalised for non-communicable diseases in the weeks after Christmas – particularly as many, often elderly persons, indulge in unhealthy lifestyle practices, while not adhering to taking their medication, and on time.

This, even after the National Health Fund (NHF), hospitals, and other healthcare providers have rolled out a slew of strategies to ensure persons with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have access to medication, particularly those hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa.

“In our A&E (accident and emergency) department, they see closer to 200-plus patients out there. The main category of patients that remains a challenge is those with non-communicable diseases. Patients with diabetes, hypertension ... ,” explained Alwyn Miller, CEO of the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

“People are diagnosed, they receive medication, they have it at home, but they don’t take it. Then they get ill and have to be taken to the hospital,” charged Miller.

“Every year after Christmas, you will see a spike in the numbers. During Christmas, a lot of people eat and drink things they are not supposed to. That is what contributes to them going into crisis mode.

FLU SEASON

“A lot of the admissions we are seeing for persons with non-communicable diseases are due to patients simply not taking their medication. That, in addition to the flu season, persons getting injured while making repairs to their homes, has been a challenge.”

Miller pointed to the increased intake of alcohol, sugar, and salt, coupled with the onset of the flu season, as contributing to the heavy influx of patients, a reality that has long plagued the institution.

Jacqueline Ellis, CEO of the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, concurred, noting that many patients report taking a break from their medication regimen during Christmas, landing them in a hospital waiting room, awaiting triage, and with limited resources. Neither of the CEOs could immediately provide numbers relating to the spike; however, non-communicable diseases, primarily heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease can lead to life-threatening emergencies, including heart attacks, strokes, diabetic comas, severe asthma attacks, and kidney failure, they explained.

“During the festive season, people really don’t comply with their medication regimen. The diabetics are not eating what they are supposed to eat, some people take a break, and so you know those present a lot of challenges after the holidays,” charged Ellis, who also noted an increase in patients turning up at the Spanish Town Hospital’s A&E due to NCDs and respiratory illnesses in recent weeks.

“We have been admitting a large number of patients with non-communicable diseases, and many of them are elderly patients who are very ill,” said Ellis, noting that further assessment would have to be made regarding the number of patients who may have failed to take their medication, landing them on one of the hospital wards.

She said the hospital, in the meantime, has been seeing a lot of children with respiratory illnesses; the maternity ward has been aiding patients from badly damaged western parishes; and that there is a system at the facility to ensure patients listed for discharge get their prescriptions filled and delivered to them at their bedsides. This is to ensure they go home with the drugs with as little hassle as possible, she said.

ADEQUATE DRUGS

In the meantime, Everton Anderson, chief executive officer at the NHF, noted that while there has been an increase in medication for the flu, there has been no notable shortage of medication for treating persons with NCDs.

At least 10 per cent of the NHF’s Drug Serv pharmacies in St Elizabeth, St James, Westmoreland, Hanover, and Trelawny were damaged by Hurricane Melissa, and in the interim, the NHF had been embarking on mobile pharmacy services. The pharmacy services have since been restored, and some 228,392 prescriptions were filled up to December 2025. This is in comparison to 211,474 prescriptions in 2024, Anderson outlined.

“Patients reported difficulty assessing locations due to communities being marooned [owing to] roads [being] flooded, and we addressed these through our mobile pharmacies,” explained Anderson. “Submitting prescriptions through the Quick Prescript App declined due to Internet connectivity issues, but patients had the option of filling prescriptions at the pharmacies,” he said.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com