Jamaica Gets Protective Gear from China

Jamaica has received a donation of protective gear valued $2.2 million from the China-Caribbean Development Center (CCDC).

The items, which include 50,000 medical masks and 1,000 sets of protective gowns, were handed over at the Ministry of Health and Wellness in New Kingston on Tuesday (April 18).

State Minister in the Ministry, Hon. Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, in expressing gratitude, said international partnerships are key in mobilising resources to strengthen the public health response.

“Jamaica is grateful for another opportunity to deepen its bilateral relations with China, through this handover ceremony. Bilateral relations remain a key component of the partnerships that drive transformation in public health,” she noted.

She said the support of the Chinese Government to Jamaica’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic has been “most notable”, citing among other things the donation of 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine along with 102,000 syringe kits in November 2021.

“Through China, our public health system has been the beneficiary of donations totalling some $195 million. Through the provision of two mobile units from the City of Yantai, we were able to deploy vaccines across the island and equip our healthcare workers and people with medical supplies such as masks and sanitisers,” she noted.

Mrs. Cuthbert Flynn said that China’s support continues to be seen through the Western Children and Adolescent Hospital project.

The facility, which is a gift from the Government of China, will be the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean, offering specialist medical care for children and young people up to age 18.

“This will meet the need for a children’s health facility in the western end of the island. The project had its ground-breaking ceremony in October 2019 and work on the facility is ongoing,” Mrs. Cuthbert-Flynn said.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Leslie Campbell, in his remarks at the handover ceremony, said the donation serves as a tangible example of the strategic bilateral partnership between the two governments.

He said it also demonstrates “the very active vibrant and growing relationship between our countries, for which Jamaica is greatly appreciative”.

For his part, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office in the Jinan Municipal Government, Shandong Province in China, Pang Long, said his country values its friendship with Jamaica.

He noted that the donation serves as a “witness” of the connection that the countries share.