Gov’t Building Human Resource Capacity in Public Health – Dr. Tufton

The Government is enhancing human resource capacity in the public health system as part of a holistic plan to strengthen healthcare delivery.

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said the Administration has undertaken a compensation review, which has not only improved the compensation for healthcare workers as part of the retention strategy but has also created more posts as the demand for health services has expanded.

“So, we are hiring more people to put in our health centres and our hospitals in order to improve the quality of service,” he said.

Dr. Tufton was speaking at Wednesday’s (January 22) opening ceremony for the Ministry’s Career Expo and Employment Fair at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston.

Coming out of the two-day event, the Ministry is looking to identify persons to fill some 600 job vacancies in the health sector islandwide.

All categories of workers are required – doctors, nurses, psychologists, records and research officers, monitoring and evaluation officers, drivers, office attendants, accountants, managers, directors in programme management, among others.

“At the end of this event, we hope that more people will decide to pursue a career in public health,” Dr. Tufton said.

The job fair and expo will continue Thursday (January 23) from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

In addition to jobseekers, the Minister is inviting students to turn out for information and advice on professions in the health sector, including qualifications and courses of study.

“We are here to encourage the population, the young people who are leaving the high-school system, others who are looking a career path in health, by showcasing the positions in public health. As you walk around the room, you will see them – nursing and midwifery, physiotherapy, laboratory technology, biotech engineers and more,” Dr. Tufton said.

“We have thought about the funding because we have the Dr. Barry Wint Scholarship, which is intended to finance $2.5 billion over five years. Last year, we gave [scholarships to] 600 people. We will continue over for the next four years and, of course, have those persons come back to work in public health,” he pointed out.

The filling of vacancies in the health sector is in keeping with the 10-year strategic plan to address gaps in the system, which include the buildout of critical infrastructure, providing diagnostic equipment, digitising health records, among other things.

“It’s over US $200 million worth of buildout,” Dr. Tufton said, further citing the US$15 million-plus initiative to digitise patient records “so that we can have one patient, one record”.

“So, when you go to the health centre and the hospital and the doctor punches in your name and number in the computer your [medical] history will come up. And so, we are eliminating the days when you have to look for a paper-based file. The benefit of that is easier assessment and, of course, better treatment for the patient. Jamaica is leading the way with that, and that is a commitment under the 10-year plan,” the Minister said.