$133 Million to Upgrade Health Facilities

A total of $133.5 million has been allotted in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure, to maintain and upgrade health facilities.
A breakdown of the allocation sees $50 million for the health facilities improvement programme, which is an ongoing project for maintaining and upgrading the buildings and equipment of health care institutions, while $10 million will be used to procure medical equipment for selected hospitals and other health care institutions.
Another $10 million has been provided to facilitate repairs to the Bellevue Hospital. The remainder, $63.5 million, has been posted for the Disease Prevention and Control project, which was developed to initiate and maintain measures, such as the surveillance of water supplies, the food trade and sewage disposal systems. Meanwhile, the sum allocated to the Children’s Homes and Places of Safety is $16 million. The money is to facilitate general repairs and refurbishing of selected institutions.
Another $4.2 million has been allocated for Project Inner City (FOCUS), geared towards the prevention and control of drug abuse.
This allocation is to continue the necessary establishment of infrastructure within five rural and urban communities, to develop self-sustained, integrated and demand reduction programmes, as part of a concerted effort to effectively reduce the demand for drugs. The provision is also to facilitate various workshops and to cover administrative expenses.
A total of $8 million has also been provided for the National Registration (Preparatory) Unit, to continue pursuing the development of multipurpose identity cards with numbers to facilitate voter registration, taxation, social security services, registration of births, deaths and marriages.