New SRHA Chairman to Focus on Upgrading Health Infrastructure

New Chairman of the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), Michael Stern, says he will be focused on upgrading and expanding healthcare infrastructure to meet the increased demand on health services in the region.

SRHA is responsible for the management and operation of public health services in Manchester, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth, including a network of health centres and hospitals, within these parishes.

Speaking with JIS News at a recent function for the handover of supplies at the Percy Junior Hospital in Manchester, Mr. Stern said that among the projects under consideration is the addition of new wings at the Mandeville Regional Hospital to respond to the need for more space.

“We are looking at starting an operating theatre at the Chapelton Community Hospital, we are looking at also expanding the operating theatre here (Percy Junor Hospital), and some projects that we are working on at the May Pen Hospital, I would like to see them through in terms of increasing [the] space there,” he outlined.

He said that SRHA is also awaiting the Government’s decision on the future of the Black River Hospital, which sustained significant damage during Hurricane Melissa.

Mr. Stern, who succeeds Wayne Chen as SRHA Chairman, said there has been major improvement in healthcare delivery across the region over the last 10 years, citing the upgrading and rehabilitation of facilities, addition of beds and increase in the number of doctors and nurses providing care.

He said that investments have been made in making health centres more resilient, noting that many of them stood up to Category Five Hurricane Melissa.

“We can boast that more than two-thirds of our clinics are resilient clinics, and the proof was in the pudding. When we had Hurricane [Melissa], in St. Elizabeth, which was one of the hardest-hit areas, our clinics stood up. We were able to clean up and get back to business quickly for the patients,” he pointed out.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) came to Jamaica. They looked at the Santa Cruz Health Centre, they looked at all the clinics and said that they would like to take this example into Africa and many other countries,” he boasted.

Mr. Stern commended Mr. Chen on a “super performance” as SRHA Chairman, crediting him with instilling a culture of accountability and transparency, assuring that the new board will “be continuing that”.

He noted that the Wayne Chen-led board cleared the backlog in the publishing of audited financial statements, which were nearly 20 years behind.

“Within the next year we are going to be making SRHA the first region to have been able to publish all its financial statements. We are now just two years or one year behind,” he pointed out.

He said that SRHA will be working towards “putting in a lot more transparency and accountable systems and procedures” and will be entering the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ)/Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Public Bodies’ Corporate Governance Awards.