Access to Quality Health Care to be Expanded

Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, says the Government will focus on expanding access to health care, improving the quality of care and promote a healthy lifestyle for the citizenry.

Delivering  the 2017-18  Throne Speech in Parliament today (February 9),  the Governor-General said to that end, the Government will expand its customer service programme, which will focus on improved access to health care and the quality patients experience within the public healthcare system.

“The Health Ministry will engage the University Hospital of the West Indies to reduce the waiting list of patients requiring minor surgeries across the public health sector,” he said.

“(We will be) partnering with selected private pharmacies through the National Health Fund to provide pharmaceuticals to public patients,” the Governor-General added.

He also informed that the realisation of a Child and Adolescent Hospital in Western Jamaica will happen this year.

The facility, which will be the first to be constructed since the May Pen Hospital in the 1970s, is expected to offer modern, state-of-the-art services and facilities.

The Governor-General’s Throne Speech was themed: ‘A Firm Foundation for Prosperity’. It outlined the Government’s priorities for the new fiscal year.