The Government has received approximately US$36.16 million (250 million RMB Yuan) from the Government of the People’s Republic of China to construct the Western Children’s Hospital in St. James and undertake other projects to be agreed on by both countries. The 220-bed facility, which will be the first such in Jamaica and the Caribbean, will be built on the compound...

The Caribbean Poison Information Network (CarPIN) is calling for regulations or legislation that will place a limit on lead paint in Jamaica. This call precedes International Lead Poisoning Week, to be observed from October 22 to 26, under the theme ‘Regulating Lead Exposure: Protecting Our Children’. Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ today (October 16), Poison Information Coordinator at CarPIN,...

For the last 35 years, Jamaica’s Top Female Blood Donor, Sonya Binns Lawrence, has been serving the nation in her own way, by donating blood three times per year. To date, after starting to give blood in July 1983, she has donated 100 times, which would have already saved approximately 300 lives, given that each donation accounts for three pints,...

Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, has called on public health nurses to support government’s effort to combat the problem of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), by becoming advocates for healthy lifestyle choices. “The nurse represents the most common variable in the provision of health services and their partnership is critical to solving the challenges in the health sector,” the...

Four years after displaying bravery in saving the lives of 22 infants during a fire in the Neonatal Care Unit of the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in downtown Kingston, nurses Mrs. Sophia Cameron, Ms. Camille McIntosh and Ms. Verlyn Faithie-Ann Douse will be honoured on Heroes Day, October 15. In an interview with JIS News at the hospital on Friday (October...

The Government has embarked on a Telemedicine pilot project for persons in remote areas to access medical specialists at the University Hospital of the West Indies, in conjunction with a major telecommunications provider. It is being done under the Telemedicine Proof of Concept (POC) project with Cable and Wireless Jamaica, with the aim of reducing the time to deliver patient...

Hundreds of residents in the St. Catherine community of Kitson Town and surrounding areas now have access to an upgraded health centre with added services. Expansion of services at the institution was done with funding provided by the National Health Fund (NHF), at a cost of $69 million, and includes curative services moving from three to five days per week,...