I guess Jamaica is doomed to remain a banana republic forever. Why? Those things called bureaucracy and red tape which is designed to stop progress forever. Look at this latest case of red tape and bureaucratic madness.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sean Thompson, whose parents are Jamaican migrants, has been working with the Ministry of Health and the hospital to come down to Jamaica today and do, free of cost, hip replacements on 6 indigent patients who could not otherwise have afforded orthopedic care at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay. The implants which cost US$15,000 each are donated by US medical firm Stryker.
Would you believe that now that the Stryker rep is here and Sean is in flight, they are being told that Customs is holding on to the implants as they want them to pay for them!!!
And this is the type of madness that occurs when a government agency, ie. The procurement division of the Ministry of Health, is assisting!! Can you imagine what the bureaucracy does to ordinary persons when no officialdom is not involved?
Jamaica cannot afford to provide any level of proper health care for its people and guess who suffers most? The poor. We are supposedly blessed in having a prime minister who "loves the poor", yet this is what happens when those who can, attempt to help the poor!
No wonder investors are shying away from doing business in Jamaica as the latest international report indicates that we have now been downgraded 5 points, from 85 to 90. ( See doing business report 2013)
Is there any doubt that Jamaica will forever remain a banana republic.
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