121 more doctors to be deployed

In less than a week, 121 more doctors will be deployed to bolster the numbers of front-line workers assisting with the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Jamaica.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, gave this update during a digital press conference held on Thursday (August 27).

“We are well advanced with the employment and deployment of 121 medical officers… who do not have posts in the public health system.

We have got the go-ahead to engage these persons, and I’m told that we will have contracts effective September 1 to engage these 121 medical officers,” Dr. Tufton said.

“In addition to that, we have 750 community health aides that are deployed. We’re moving to the 1,000 mark, so recruitment is still on.

Again, that will be a big addition for the cadre of workers in the field and will help us with the intelligence gathering and the information flow, and contact tracing,” he added.

Dr. Tufton said the Government is in the final stages of determining a number of public health inspectors who will also be engaged.

“Public health inspectors are very important to the process. They are at the local parish level. They go out in the field. They assess what is happening, and one of the primary reasons for engaging them is to provide leadership in terms of the community health aides… but, importantly, they will be used to drive the protocols that are in place to ensure that, whether it’s workplace, community or otherwise, any protocol that is established around the response to COVID-19… those public health inspectors will help to police those protocols, supported by the rest of the team,” he said.