PRESIDENT OF the Medical Association of Jamaica Dr Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe has slammed the bed-sharing arrangement being employed on maternity wards in public hospitals.

Two, and sometimes three, pregnant mothers are forced to share a single patient bed. At other times, two mothers and their newborns also share a single bed.

Wright-Pascoe said this sleeping arrangement is dehumanising to women. "This is a practice that should not exist at all," she stated. "And, it dehumanises patients sharing a bed at a very vulnerable time in their lives when they are either pregnant or have just given birth."

Wright-Pascoe, in describing the situation as unfortunate, told The Sunday Gleaner that her organisation was aware of the bed-sharing at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) in Kingston and the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine.

She added that while the sleeping arrangement was not particularly unsafe for expectant mothers, it posed a threat to mothers who had just given birth.

Practice not healthy

"The mothers who have just delivered are vulnerable and those mothers have relatively raw wounds (in their) private areas. And, therefore, the practice is not a healthy one."

She added: "It is also not appropriate for complete and absolute strangers to be sharing a bed in that intimate way. That is absolutely unacceptable."

Wright-Pascoe is appealing to the Government to conduct research geared towards identifying "the needs of the obstetrics and gynaecology ward" at the VJH and Spanish Town Hospitals.

Hot on the heels of that research, Wright-Pascoe suggested, should be a reasonable projection to have the needs met. "Find out what is the true number of beds you need within the next five years and provide them. And, they really should be provided. It is a practice that really should stop," she stated.

Wright-Pascoe also lamented that "the public-health sector is under-funded".

Edith Allwood-Anderson, president of the Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ), argues that the bed-sharing practice is dangerous and could have serious repercussions.

"The NAJ's position is consistent with infection control, privacy and confidentiality as it affects the patients," advised Allwood-Anderson.

She added: "The standard of the professional code of conduct for nurses and the international codes of nurses clearly state that you must have a standard bed space, that not even the mother and the child should be occupying the same bed space."

Allwood-Anderson also stated that "patient confidentiality (and) dignity should not be breached at any time".

She disclosed that the reports of two mothers and two babies sharing the same bed were not recent developments.

"This, I can say, is not very new. We had managed to put that under some control. But, we note that (it) is not being looked at seriously," she stated.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com