The National Commission on Science and Technology (NCST) is working on an amendment to the Food and Drug Safety Act, to identify nutraceuticals as a special category. Director General at the NCST, Professor Errol Morrison, speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on November 27, noted that Cabinet has already received the submission as it relates to the amendment. He explained...

Cabinet has approved the Interim Guidelines for beverages in schools, which will not only help to improve the dietary intake of children but also set the stage to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which account for 78 per cent of Jamaicans who die each year. This was announced by Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, during...

Health Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says five hospitals have been shortlisted for upgrading over the next three to five years with loan funding of US$50 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). These institutions are the Kingston Public, Spanish Town, May Pen, Mandeville and St. Ann’s Bay Hospitals. Speaking at the recent opening of the National Linear Cancer...

Scores of residents of Paul Mountain in rural St. Catherine have benefited from a free health fair. Children and adults recently gathered on the grounds of the Paul Mountain Primary School, where they received medical and dental checks and were provided with general health information. Principal of the institution, Vanderline Wilson, said that the health fair was staged in observance...

Health Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, is encouraging persons with diabetes to get screened for eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, to prevent vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness, resulting from damage of the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissues at the back of the eye (retina). The Minister made the appeal during the launch...

Jamaica will host the inaugural International Spinal Injury Symposium, slated for The Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, on December 2. The event, to be staged under the auspices of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), will feature presentations from some of the foremost authorities on the subject. They include Professor Michael Fehlings and Professor Charles Fisher from Canada. Professor Fehlings is...

The Government’s development of a 10-year Strategic Plan for the public health sector is expected to be finalised within the next few months. This was disclosed by Health Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, at Monday’s (November 26) official opening of the $860-million National Linear Cancer Treatment Centre at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kingston. He noted that the Plan articulates...