Former Jamaica prime minister Bruce Golding

KINGSTON, Jamaica, July 30, CMC – Former prime minister Bruce Golding has been admitted to a South Florida hospital where he is expected to undergo treatment for a back problem, a senior official of the main opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has said.

“Mr Golding has been having some back troubles for quite some time now. It has worsened over the last several weeks. He got medical attention in Jamaica and it has gotten to the point where he needed to seek medical attention overseas,” said Delano Seiveright, the aide to Opposition Leader Andrew Holness.

Seiveright confirmed that Golding, 64, left here on Sunday, adding “I can’t say if he will require surgery but it was certainly serious enough to warrant further medical attention”.

Golding, who quit active politics and stepped down as prime minister and JLP leader in October last year,  has been keeping a low profile and has made very few public appearances since leaving Jamaica House

Golding’s confidant, Daryl Vaz, said his back ailment was triggered by a couple of previous operations at a medical facility in Jamaica.

Vaz, a former government minister, has also sought to dismiss rumours that the Portia Simpson-Miller government is paying for Golding’s treatment overseas.

“Despite all the rumours that are swirling, he has gone on his own. He has not been taken on an air ambulance or anything like that, and with any infection, the necessity to treat the infection sooner, as well as after treatment, the better, hence the decision for the trip,” he stressed.

“He had a scheduled back operation, after which complications developed and he developed an infection. They (local doctors) moved to put him on a course of antibiotics, but that has not worked,” said Vaz.