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A 14-day injunction to prevent further industrial action by Registered Nurses, represented by the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), was secured by Minister of Labour and Social Security, the Hon. Pearnel Charles, in the Supreme Court on Wednesday (March 3). There have been reports since Monday that the Nurses have been involved in a "sick out", in support of the...

A public education campaign, which aims to stop cigarette smoking within the designated area of Emancipation Square, in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, will begin this week. The campaign will be spearheaded by the Smoke Free Action Coalition, in collaboration with the St. Catherine Parish Council. Emancipation Square was recently declared a smoke free zone by Mayor of Spanish Town, Dr....

The May Pen Hospital has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Youth Service (NYS) and Entertainment Surgery, to film a Youth Mentoring project, that will be used to help steer young people from deviant behaviours and to channel their energies into creative endeavours. The project will engage young persons 13 to 17 years of age, living in...

Measures will be put in place to improve security at the May Pen Hospital, including erecting perimeter fencing. Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, addressing a meeting with staff of the Clarendon-based facility last week, expressed dissatisfaction with the existing arrangements to ensure the safety of staff and patients. He informed that a tender will be put out for a...

The Rotary Club of Santa Cruz, in St. Elizabeth, handed over an ambulance to the Jamaica Red Cross Society in the parish, on February 23, to boost its response to medical emergencies in the parish. At the handing over ceremony, held at the St. Matthew's Anglican Church, in Santa Cruz, Custos of the parish, Hon. Alfred Farquharson, said the unit...

Residents in Greenwich Town, South West St. Andrew, and its environs, are to benefit from a new state-of-the-art health facility, the Oak Glades Health Centre, that has been constructed in that community. The facility, which houses several spacious air-conditioned rooms, will soon be opened to the public. It was built with assistance from the United States (US) Southern Command's Humanitarian...

Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, has said that the Government is committed to meeting its obligations in the sector, through sound health policies and programmes. He pointed out that one such policy was the abolition of User Fees in health facilities, through which Jamaicans were able to save over $3.6 billion last year. "The Government has also increased access...

The Ministry of Health is reporting an increase in the incidence of gastroenteritis, malaria and dengue fever across the island, due largely to the prevailing drought conditions, and is looking to implement a national hand washing campaign as part of measures to contain the spread. Speaking at Thursday's (February 18) post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House, portfolio Minister, Hon. Rudyard...

An agreement was signed and ground broken Friday (February 19), for the development of the Old Hospital site, in Montego Bay, into a natural, recreational public space. Deputy General Manager, Economic Development and Corporate Relations, Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Lenworth Tracey, and Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Joan Gordon-Webley, were signatories to the agreement. Minister...

Head of the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, Dr. Lambert Ennis, is appealing to Jamaicans to donate blood for 24 children, ages three months to 12 years, who are in desperate need of the fluid to undergo critical heart surgery. The surgeries, which are scheduled to take place between February 23 and March...

Executive Director of the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), Mr. Michael Tucker, has cited strong support from several stakeholders, in its efforts to curb substance abuse in Jamaica. Speaking at a JIS 'Think Tank', at the agency's Half-Way Tree Road head office last week, Mr. Tucker pointed out that the NCDA has worked with several agencies, inclusive of non-governmental...

A ban on cigarette smoking will shortly be introduced within the entire designated area of Emancipation Square in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. The Square will be the first Smokefree Square in the Caribbean, when a declaration is officially unveiled in March. The initiative is a joint project of the Smoke Free Action Coalition in Spanish Town and the St. Catherine...