The Caribbean Development Bank Community Investment Project has funded a new community health-care facility administered through the Jamaica Social Investment Project (JSIF).
According to the Jamaica Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Fergusson, residents of Golden Spring, St Andrew and the surrounding communities will soon have a new health centre. The cost to build the facility is in the region of approximately $40 million dollars. The JSIP will contribute 18% (eighteen percent) of the construction costs to facilitate its construction.
“Primary care is grounded in prevention and has a community focus. It is cheaper for persons to go to the health centre than to go to hospital. It relieves the pressure on secondary care and allows secondary care to focus on the major issues. My vision is for Jamaica to be the health hub for the region and a major contender in the Caribbean. We can achieve this goal through this drive to improve health care, especially at the primary level,” he said.
The Project is expected to take six months to complete and is categorized as a Type Two health centre offering services including family planning, health promotion, surveillance, health care provision, preventative care and disease control as well as immunization and child health care.
Ferguson was on hand at the signing of the contract between the JSIF and the Stock Farm Road Citizens’ Association, told the Jamaican Gleaner that “Jamaica’s network of primary health-care facilities has helped the nation to get better outcomes in health than many developed countries.”
