143 Per Cent Increase in Health Budget over Past Eight Years

The Government has increased the country’s public health budget by 143 per cent to $145 billion over the past eight years, to improve services and transform the healthcare sector.

Making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 7, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, noted that in 2016/17 the budget allocated to public health was $60.15 billion, representing recurrent expenditure of $55.47 billion and capital spending of $4.68 billion.

The $145.14 billion for the current fiscal year represents recurrent allocation of $133.61 billion and capital of $11.53 billion.

“We have acted tangibly, after recognising that the… transformation that we seek requires an expansion of expenditure, and the Government has done just that. We are on the road to transformation,” Dr. Tufton said.

He noted that the Government has also increased the cadre of workers with 2,089 doctors now in the establishment, in addition to 4,741 nurses and 2,210 community health aides.

This is a major increase over 2016, when the number of doctors was approximately 1,500; nurses, 4,669; and community health aides, 893.

“On this road to transformation, the Government recognised that the ratio of healthcare worker to citizen needed to be adjusted, and that adjustment has taken place. The Government has added more healthcare workers to enable the transformation process,” Dr. Tufton pointed out.

He said the Government remains committed to addressing the issues in the health sector and providing improved opportunities for better health and wellness outcomes.

He noted that persons are reporting more positive experiences from visits to public health facilities.

“Of the nearly three million visits to our 24 hospitals and 325 health centres last year and nearly 200,000 admissions for five days or less in our hospitals, the vast majority of those experiences are positive,” Dr. Tufton told the House.

In addition, he said, the hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans who have benefited from town and community outreach programmes “makes this journey all about positively impacting people and improving their lives”.