Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Marion Bullock DuCasse is urging persons at greater risk for more severe symptoms of Chikungunya to seek medical treatment immediately at a health centre or their doctor if they experience symptoms of the disease. Symptoms of chikungunya fever include high fever, joint pain mainly in the hands, wrists and ankles and other joints, headache, muscle...

A total of 225 cataract patients at the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester have benefitted from well-needed surgeries, which were performed by a team of surgeons from the Unites States (US) and India. US-based Diaspora charity, Mind, Body and Soul Health Ministries, which has been working in Jamaica for several years, organised the medical mission, through sponsorship from internationally renowned...

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, is calling on all Jamaicans to come together and designate a day to undertake community clean-up activities. He pointed out that the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which transmit the Chikungunya virus, breeds in and around areas where people gather, so the school, home, church and business places should be a part of this clean-up....

Residents in and around the town of Black River, in St. Elizabeth, will be updated on many health issues, including Chikungunya, at a public forum on Thursday, September 18. The forum will be held at the St. Elizabeth Parish Library, in Black River, commencing at 4:30 p.m., and is part of a series of Town Hall meetings that the Southern...

The Ministry of Health has responded to reports that a high level of staff absenteeism at the Yallahs Primary School in St. Thomas is related to the mosquito-borne Chikungunya Virus. Although no breeding sites were identified during Tuesday’s inspection of the school compound, the Ministry of Health fumigated the area on Wednesday, September 17 as an additional precautionary measure. The...

As Jamaica observes Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September, the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS) is urging men, particularly those over the age of 40 years, to be proactive and do the necessary screening for the disease. In an interview with JIS News, Consultant Urologist at the University Hospital of the West Indies and Lecturer and Head of Urology at the...

The Ministry of Health is embarking on a programme to allow persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as Jamaicans with other illnesses, to access their medication in a timely manner. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Kevin Harvey, said this involves the redesigning of the pharmacies in the public health system, as well as the pending implementation of new software...