DIRECTOR OF standards and regulation in the health ministry, Cynthia Lewis-Graham, disclosed yesterday that proposed legislation to govern private hospitals has been sitting untouched for 18 years gathering dust.
The issue was brought to the fore by a Sunday Gleaner exposé that highlighted that several private hospitals have not been registered under the Nursing Homes Registration Act of 1934.
The director said that in 2010, the attorney general had given guidance that the private hospitals could be regulated under the act.
“There was no legislative framework, to my knowledge, and given the responsibility that we took on in 2020, we decided to develop some tools to manage the regulations and inspection of these private hospitals,” Lewis-Graham said.
It was revealed yesterday that the health ministry has scheduled inspections for nine private hospitals.
