11 health centres in St James to be upgraded, says Tufton

WESTERN BUREAU:

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says plans are in place to enhance healthcare services in St James, as, in addition to 11 local health centres that have been fully upgraded since 2019, another 11 are now being renovated.

Tufton made that announcement while addressing Thursday’s official opening of the Adelphi Health Centre, in Adelphi, St James. The Type 2 facility was upgraded and expanded at a cost of $65 million, under the Poverty Reduction Programme implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, through grant funding from the European Union.

“We have 24 health centres in the parish of St James and, over the last five years, 11 of those 24 have seen substantial improvements, including this brand-new one right here at Adelphi. There are others, 11 in total, where you will see work taking place over the next few months, and work at some of those facilities has already started, and Operation Refresh is enhancing the comfort of those primary healthcare facilities, both for the patients who come and the staff who provide the service,” said Tufton, referencing the Ministry of Health’s ongoing $1-billion initiative to modernise the provision of health services and address long-standing deficiencies and inadequate patient services over the next 18 months.

“For those additional 11 centres, we are doing a design for solar panels for sustainability, plus a rainwater harvesting system, kitchens for the staff, with microwaves and refrigerators, a TV screen on the wall to provide health information, clean bathrooms, and running water. These are supposed to be standard in every one of the 24 health centres in the parish of St James,” Tufton continued.

It is understood that approximately $495 million has been spent to upgrade the 11 health centres that have already been completed in St James, with each one costing $45 million.

The additional 11 health centres where expansion work will be done include Mount Carey, Roehampton, Tower Hill, Somerton, Lottery, Goodwill, Garlands, Maroon Town, Springfield, John’s Hall, and Green Pond. The facilities at John’s Hall and Green Pond are currently being upgraded, with work to start for the other nine in short order.

Out of St James’ 24 health centres, 22 are currently operational. The remaining two health centres, located at Mafouta and Hopeton, are closed, but there are plans to reopen them.

Tufton noted that the work being done on St James’ health centres forms part of the renovation work being done at other community health centres across the rest of Jamaica.

“All our primary healthcare facilities are being looked at and expanded, upgraded and supported. It is not just about the infrastructure, because, under primary healthcare reform, we are adding more doctors, more nurses, and more services,” said Tufton.

“Primary healthcare has now been reclassified to, among other things, include comprehensive community healthcare facilities, and we are doing curative services. In total, across Jamaica, we are hiring another 370 doctors in our health centres, to provide better services at the community level, and St James is part of that,” Tufton added.