A troubling surge in the number of people being taken to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) and abandoned was highlighted during a discussion on homelessness in the capital city with a senior social worker cautioning that unless urgent action is taken to stem the problem it could spiral into a full-blown crisis.

“I’m in the hospital, but homelessness does not only affect me in the hospital, or affect the hospital; it’s a social issue. It’s a social dilemma that needs to be addressed on a social level, on a more global level. It is heading to crisis proportion pretty fast if it is not fixed,” Dianne Duke, who is stationed at KPH and Victoria Jubilee Hospital, told the seminar hosted by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) last Friday.

“Currently we have 23 social cases [at KPH]. Some would have been brought in by relatives, neighbours, well-wishers. And a recent trend that I have been noticing is that there are some private nursing home facilities that are taking persons to the hospital and leaving them there because the relatives of these persons can no longer pay to have them stay in these private facilities,” she added.