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Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer will be opening the social policy section of the sectoral debate in parliament on Tuesday, September 21, 2010. In his opening presentation, Minister Spencer will be examining the broad social policy framework of the country. Speaking under the theme: 'Positioning for Growth: The National Health Agenda', the Minister's presentation will cover a number of...

Women's healthcare has been given a boost, with Tuesday's (September 14) groundbreaking for the Queen Sophia of Spain Women's Centre, at the Spanish Town Hospital, St. Catherine. The centre is expected to improve access to care and broaden the range of services available to women in the communities served by the hospital. The project involves the construction of a two-storey...

The Atlanta-Montego Bay Sister City Foundation will stage its 17th annual health mission to Montego Bay from October 4 to 7. Chairman of the Atlanta-Montego Bay Sister City Health Mission, Vin Martin, told JIS News that more than 40,000 patients in St. James and neighbouring parishes have been served over the years, with approximately $38 million in medical supplies donated....

The prevalence of HIV and AIDS has been stabilized in the Caribbean, with many countries of the region experiencing a decline in the number of cases. Director of Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), Carl Browne, credits his ten-year-old organization, and the support it has received from regional governments, for the achievement. "We can go back to 2001,...

Against the background of a decline in grants funding for the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), Grenada's Minister of Health and Chair of the Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM) of PANCAP, Senator the Hon Ann Peters, wants Caribbean nations to assert their toughness and collectively work for a resolution to the problem. She mentioned the global financial crisis,...

The Ministry of Health is projecting significant savings, should all the Public Sector Transformation Unit's (PSTU) recommendations for the restructuring of the Ministry, be implemented. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Jean Dixon, today (September 8), told a meeting of Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), at Gordon House, that the Government would save approximately $50 million annually, just...

The Government reached an agreement with its registered nurses Wednesday to pay outstanding allowances owed to them since 2008, costing some $500 million, by the end of October. The agreement settled the most pressing issue affecting the industrial relationship between the Government and the nurses represented by the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), whose latest protest action was a sick...

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has developed a strategic security plan aimed at making health facilities safer for patients and workers, following security breaches at some institutions, recently. "The Ministry of Health has taken a decision to tailor security contracts to the security profile of individual health facilities, having regard to the fact that the security needs of one institution...

Registered Government nurses resumed normality Friday afternoon (September 3), after a meeting with Minister of Labour and Social Security, the Hon Pearnel Charles, at his Ministry, North Street, Kingston. Mr. Charles told JIS News after meeting with NAJ President, Edith Allwood-Anderson, and her team, that he had been advised by the NAJ that industrial action taken by its members would...

Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, has announced the allocation of an additional $60 million to fund the Ministry's vector control programme, in light of recent dengue fever outbreaks in the island. Mr. Spencer told journalists at a press conference at the Ministry, in downtown Kingston, today (September 3), that the funds will be used for heightened surveillance, public education,...

The Child Health and Development Passport, which contains information about the growth and development of a child from birth to 17, was officially implemented today (September 1), during a press briefing, held at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, downtown Kingston. In his remarks, Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, explained that the passport, which was developed in collaboration with his Ministry...

A new Cardiac Unit is to be constructed and equipped at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, in Kingston. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this undertaking was signed on August 27 by the hospital with various stakeholders, including the Gift of Life Rotary District 7020. This agreement, which is valid for five years, will also involve the systematic development of...