Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, is imploring Jamaicans to take action to rid their surroundings of breeding sites for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the Zika virus. “Too often, unfortunately, we assist in providing very fertile breeding ground for this mosquito. This means that we all have to take action,” he said. “Anything that creates the environment for...

Minister of Health, Dr. Christopher Tufton says the Ministry is aware and is taking steps to ease the current shortage of specialist nurses in public health sector. The renewed concern comes in light of a local recruitment drive for specialist nurses for overseas employment. Dr. Tufton points out that this happens from time to time as Jamaican nurses, particularly specialist...

Frontline health workers are being encouraged to get vaccinated to protect themselves against the Influenza A (H1N1) virus. This call comes from Health Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, who has assured that Jamaica has an adequate supply of the vaccine, which is being further shored up. “We have brought in another 2,000 doses from Trinidad (and Tobago), and Belize,...

The Clinical Virology Laboratory in the Department of Microbiology, University of the West Indies is now equipped for testing dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses after a ten (10) million dollar upgrade was done to the Laboratory. A state of the art real-time thermal equipment was acquired with the capacity to test 96 samples and controls within 2 hours.  This machine...

United States Ambassador to Jamaica His Excellency Luis G. Moreno paid a courtesy call on Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton today at the Ministry of Health to discuss further strengthening collaborations with Jamaica and the United States. Ambassador Moreno said “the United States is one of the closest collaborators with Jamaica and there is great value in the partnerships between...

Jamaica no longer has to send samples overseas to test for suspected cases of the Zika Virus (ZikV). This, as the National Virology Reference Laboratory, housed at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), is now fully equipped to test for viral infections. This follows upgrading work undertaken at a cost of $10 million. The improvements have also provided...

Minister of Health, Dr. Christopher Tufton says steps have been taken to accelerate the procurement of additional flu vaccines for frontline health workers given the increased threat of Influenza A(H1N1). He says the Ministry is to receive an additional five thousand (5,000) doses within the next week. “Three thousand (3,000) doses of the Influenza vaccine have been ordered through PAHO...