New Primary Healthcare Model Coming

Cabinet has approved a new primary healthcare model that will include interventions to support heathy lifestyle and disease prevention and provide more treatment services at health centres.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, in providing details during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 7, said the model will see some 370 more doctors being hired in the primary healthcare system.

“That’s a good thing because it means when people turn up at a clinic, if they never used to see a doctor, they will now see a doctor and they can access more curative services right in their communities rather than travelling to the hospital,” he said.

Dr. Tufton noted that the new system will address several issues.

“Divided into community, district and comprehensive health centres, it will look at not just health promotion and education but screening, prevention and treatment, routine medicals, special clinics for adolescent, elderly, men and women’s health, rehabilitative and palliative care, ophthalmological and audiometric screening,” he outlined.

Dr. Tufton said that under the new model, the island’s health centres are going to be positioned in a manner that will enable them to provide greater value to the people in the communities where they are located.