New Pharmacy for Bustamante Children's Hospital

Ground will be broken early next year for the construction of a new Drug Serv pharmacy at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, according to Everton Anderson, chief executive officer of the National Health Fund (NHF).

He made the announcement while speaking at the opening of the new Drug Serv pharmacy at the Linstead Public Hospital in St Catherine last Thursday.

"The NHF is committed to improving the healthcare and public-pharmacy services to benefit all citizens, and currently, there are more than 105 Drug Serv facilities across the island that aim to deliver the highest-quality pharmaceu-ticals," Anderson said.

Renovations under way

Already, renovations are under way at the Drug Serv pharmacies located at the Port Maria Hospital in St Mary and the Type 5 Health Centre in St James, and the NHF boss said that this was just the beginning.

He said: "In the coming year, we also intend to carry out extensive work to ensure that we improve the space of our pharmacies. We will also launch an intensive public education programme on medication compliance to help support our clients to take their medication."

Over the past two years, the NHF has carried out major infrastructural upgrades in St Catherine, built one pharmacy at the Greater Portmore Health Centre, while the Spanish Town Hospital and the Kitson Town Health Centre pharmacies have been refurbished.

The construction of the Drug Serv pharmacy in Linstead was funded by the NHF at a cost of $31 million and will serve an estimated 20,000 Jamaicans who reside in and around St Catherine.

NHF completed the takeover of all public-sector pharmacies in April 2018.