If you live in a rural area and have a medical concern, chances are your first course of action will be to visit the nearest public hospital, even if there is a health centre available nearby.
The reason for this is complex, having to do with availability of doctors, equipment, the capacity of the personnel and other issues. This situation, however, has contributed to overcrowding at hospitals, affecting the quality of care and service delivery provided to patients.
As part of efforts to address this situation Cabinet has approved a new primary health care model, aimed at encouraging more persons to access healthcare at the community level before opting to travel to a hospital.
The new model will help to reduce overcrowding, improve the overall aesthetics of primary health care facilities and increase human resources on the ground in communities across the island.
