Health Minister Opens Private Medical Facility in Portmore

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, officially opened the Tensie Mae Robinson (TMR) Medical Limited in Portmore, St. Catherine, on Wednesday (October 7).

The private healthcare facility located at 9 Cookson Pen on Braeton Main Road, is designed to deliver comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services to residents in the surrounding communities, and the wider St. Catherine parish.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Dr. Tufton emphasised the Government’s commitment to public-private partnerships in healthcare.

“I want to begin by identifying with this development. It’s a very important addition to the healthcare space in St. Catherine parish, certainly in Jamaica. Also… I want to make it clear that as minister responsible for public health, my team and I… embrace, from a policy perspective, the need for both private and public healthcare facilities,” Dr. Tufton said.

He highlighted that the establishment of more private health facilities will alleviate the pressure on the public institutions like the Spanish Town Hospital.

The Minister also mentioned the rapid growth of St. Catherine, particularly in Portmore, and the developments that are either under construction or those in the planning stages, noting that residents will need facilities such as schools, police stations, supermarkets, and healthcare services to support them.

“I think the entrepreneurs, the founders, the developers of TMR are possessing and showing the vision as to the demand that is here today, but the demand that will come tomorrow and the months and the years after. And that’s a good thing,” Dr. Tufton said.

He outlined ongoing public developments in St. Catherine that will support the private health facility.

These include the expansion of the Spanish Town hospital, the new health centres in Greater Portmore, St. Jago Park and Old Harbour, as well as the planning stages of a public-private partnership to establish a hospital in the Bernard Lodge vicinity.

TMR Medical Director, Dr. Morais Guy, detailed the facility’s extensive services and specialised offerings.

The hospital features three operating suites, including a major one equipped with a C-arm X-ray for complex orthopaedic procedures, a fully functioning recovery area and a six-bed High Dependency Unit.

There are 17 private single and double rooms for inpatient accommodations; an accident and emergency department and a radiography suite equipped for CT scans, ultrasonography, X-rays and mammograms, with plans under way to offer MRI services in the near future.

Other utilities and services include medical offices across various specialties except paediatrics; surgeons in all surgical sub-specialties; a physiotherapy area, laboratory, pharmacy, piped oxygen and medical air, as well as an on-site oxygen generator.

“Our aim is for [TMR] to become a sought-after private hospital facility for all medical specialties except obstetrics, and yes we have the necessary sundries as well as an incubator per adventure an emergency obstetric patient is delivering and turns up at this facility,” Dr. Guy noted.

He said that the hospital is dedicated to the memory of Tensie Mae Robinson, the mother of principal investor and Board Chairman, Dwight Robinson.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for South St. Catherine, Fitz Jackson, expressed pride in seeing the long-standing ambition of a major private hospital in Portmore come to fruition.

He committed his support to the facility, which he noted will serve not only local residents and businesses but also the broader Kingston Metropolitan Area and surrounding communities.

Chief Executive Officer of TMR Medical Limited, Deidre Ann Dennis, confirmed with JIS News that the facility will open to the public in approximately two weeks.