Waiting in pain for 5 months

THE wait continues for 57-year-old Garfield Granston — who broke his spine in May — to receive a procedure which remains stalled by an out-of-service machine at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH). His stepdaughter, Elexso Smith, told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that the family has endured five long months awaiting a surgery date, but KPH has not delivered a clear timeline, leaving Granston at Black River Hospital (BRH) where he was initially admitted. Granston’s ordeal began on May 15, 2026 when he fell from a tree and was rushed to BRH in his home parish of St Elizabeth. There, doctors determined that he had sustained fractures in two places along his spine and would require surgery.

The family was subsequently told that the hospital lacked the facilities to perform the procedure, and her stepfather was referred to KPH — Jamaica’s largest public multidisciplinary Type-A facility — with the hope of receiving the treatment he needed. The procedure required 10 pedicle screws, 10 set screws, and two rods, at a total cost of $854,000. Faced with that bill, Smith said the family sought assistance from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, which provided a $554,000 subsidy, while they covered the remaining $300,000. Smith shared that after the bill was cleared, she was certain that her stepfather would soon receive surgery. But when they took the receipt to Granston’s surgeon, another obstacle outside of her family’s control presented itself. “Before we pay the money at KPH, and before we got help from the health ministry, the doctor was very harsh, because he was arguing saying that we have to pay the money before we can do surgery. When we get the receipt, and gave it to the doctor he said: ‘One more problem. The machine broke down’,” Smith told the Observer . “Every time he…