Mon | May 20, 2024

MoBay’s Type V Health Centre to get upgrading work

Published:Wednesday | April 26, 2023 | 12:17 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
Front row, from left: Colin Barnett, manager of human resource development at Petrojam Limited, presents a donated echo-cardiogram machine to Dr Tanique Bailey-Small, medical officer of health for St James, and Lennox Wallace, the parish manager for St Jam
Christopher Thomas
Front row, from left: Colin Barnett, manager of human resource development at Petrojam Limited, presents a donated echo-cardiogram machine to Dr Tanique Bailey-Small, medical officer of health for St James, and Lennox Wallace, the parish manager for St James Public Health Services, during an official ceremony for the adoption of the Montego Bay Type V Comprehensive Health Centre by Petrojam Limited, at the Type V clinic grounds on Friday, April 21. Looking on in the back row (from left): Dwight Crawford, councillor for the St James Municipal Corporation’s Spring Gardens division; Winston Watson, general manager of Petrojam Limited; Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton; and Heroy Clarke, the member of parliament for the St James Central constituency.

WESTERN BUREAU:

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the Montego Bay Comprehensive Type V Health Centre, which was built in 1993, will soon receive significant upgrades to enhance its service capacity for the residents of St James.

Tufton disclosed the plan while addressing last Friday’s official adoption of the Type V Health Centre by Petrojam Limited. The Type V clinic also received a new echo-cardiogram machine to aid with heart monitoring treatment and will receive $3 million over the next three years to purchase clinic and office equipment.

The adoption of the Montego Bay clinic by Petrojam is the 42nd such initiative under the Ministry of Health and Wellness’s Adopt-a-Clinic Programme, which is designed to attract private sector support in boosting the local health sector.

“This facility has outgrown its optimal usage, as this building at Type V was built in 1993, and the population and the sickness profile were very different back then,” said Tufton, in outlining the rationale behind the upgrade. “It is time for an upgrade and an overhaul.”

While he did not provide a timeline or a budget for the proposed upgrading of the Type V clinic, Tufton said that the planned work will include the addition of extra health services and an expansion of spaces at the facility.

“We are moving ahead with some plans, and I am not going to give you details of the plans, but it involves a design concept, more space for services, and perhaps some additional services, and we are working on space for things like parking,” said Tufton.

“During the course of this year, I am hoping, based on the discussions that are taking place, to be able to be more definitive about what the work involves and the timelines for it,” continued Tufton.

“Suffice it to say, the attention is on Type V to ‘right size’ … it for the demands of the population. We cannot be building the largest concentration of hospital beds up at the Cornwall Regional Hospital [in nearby Mt Salem], and then we have Type V down here looking like they are not trying,” added Tufton.

The Type V Health Centre caters to approximately 129,000 residents from communities such as Flanker, Barrett Town, Mt Salem, Salt Spring, Green Pond, Catherine Hall, and Cambridge.

The services offered at the health centres include epidemiology and disease surveillance, family and reproductive health services, HIV/STI prevention and control, substance abuse, mental health care, and general health promotion and education.

Other communities in St James where health centres have undergone construction or renovation work as far back as 2019 include Adelphi, Catherine Hall, Barrett Town, Flanker, and Granville.