40 health centres adopted under Adopt-A-Clinic initiative
Dr Kenneth Baugh Health Centre latest facility to benefit
Published:Friday | November 11, 2022 | 5:57 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
THE MINISTRY of Health has managed to successfully place for adoption under its Adopt-A-Clinic initiative 40 out of a targeted 100 health centres across the island.
Some $173 million has been raised so far under the initiative. The latest facility to be adopted is the Dr Kenneth Baugh Health Centre situated in Point Hill, St Catherine.
“The adoption process is about building primary healthcare and building a community spirit. What it does is it provides a series of resources over three years for the staff and administrators benefit through minor additions,” Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said at the adoption ceremony.
Jamaican Consul General to the Southern United States Oliver Mair, who led a Southern USA diaspora team to the adoption ceremony, said: “We like to have an inclusive way on how we decide on the clinics, one of the things we want to do is not just to adopt a health facility but to be involved in the community and find out some of the needs for the clinic and help to provide them.”
He added that one of the important features is the forging of a relationship between donors and the local community.
The health centre in Point Hill, which is located in West Central St Catherine, was renamed in honour of the late ex-health minister Dr Kenneth Baugh, who also served as member of parliament for St Catherine West Central from 2002 to 2016. The facility was upgraded in 2019 at a cost of $42 million with funding from the National Health Fund.
Sharon Bambury Edwards, midwife supervisor at the health centre, while expressing gratitude for the support, gave an outline of the urgent needs of the facility.
“I am very pleased and happy with the adoption, [but] we have serious financial constraints and therefore lack some basic things to benefit our clients,” she stressed.
Bambury Edwards said the clinic needed perimeter fencing, a washing machine, a generator to combat frequent power outages in the area and a sterilising machine.
However, the request for the washing machine was immediately answered when diaspora member Sandra Gipson wrote a cheque to cover the cost of purchasing the machine.
The group of overseas-based Jamaicans will adopt the facility for three years, each year donating $1 million to cover purchases of equipment, office supplies and minor infrastructural upgrades.
The Southern USA diaspora group has so far adopted health centres in St Ann, St Mary, Portland and St Catherine, with funding coming from their signature diaspora fundraising event, The Jamaica 5K Run/Walk, which is staged in Miami under the auspices of the consul general.