Michael Lee Chin kisses his mother following the unveiling of a life-size portrait of her at the opening of the Hyacinth Chen School of Nursing. - photos by Keisha Hill

Jamaica's ailing nursing sector received a significant boost Sunday with the official opening of the Hyacinth Chen School of Nursing by Michael Lee Chin, chairman of the AIC Fund Management and the National Commercial Bank, at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) eastern campus.

The nursing school, named in honour of his mother, stands on a 21,000-sq-ft property, just across the road from the main campus in Mandeville, Manchester. It was built at cost of $250 million.

The state-of-the-art facility will have capacity for 800 students and it is projected that in the next two years, will graduate at least 250 nurses. This is expected to significantly ease the nursing shortage in Jamaica.

Construction of the facility began in March 2007 and projected completion was expected in November of this year. However, the facility was put on speed to coincide with the opening of the new academic year and the graduation exercises of the university.

Principal donor, Michael Lee Chin, in delivering the keynote address, stated that the opening of the school has begun another page for the nursing sector in Jamaica.

"We have created a living laboratory, such is the importance of the gift of education that this investment will enable those who will benefit to excel academically, spiritually and socially," he said.

"We recognised the desperate shortage of nurses in Jamaica and felt it necessary to pay our debt to these individuals ... it is a service that involves hard work and dedication," added the NCB chairman.

Dr Michael Coombs, technical director of the Southern Regional Health Authority, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Health and the Environment, Rudyard Spencer, welcomed the facility and indicated that its presence had the potential to impact positively on health services in Jamaica, the Caribbean and the world.

Front-line warriors

Principal donor and Chairman of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), Michael Lee Chin (centre), at the offical opening ceremony of the Hyacinth Chen School of Nursing, held at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Mandeville, on Sunday. Others pictured from left are his mother, Hyacinth Chen, in whose honour the school was named; Dr Herbert Thompson, president of NCU; Margarett Best, minister of health promotion, Province of Ontario, Canada; and Managing Director of NCB, Patrick Hylton.

"Our nurses are front-line warriors for health care in Jamaica. This facility will assist not only trainee nurses, but also those at the senior level who will deliver critical care to patients but also in accident and emergency cases," Dr Coombs said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Minister of Health Promotion, Province of Ontario, Canada, Margarett Best, lauded the efforts of NCU and Lee Chin in helping to enhance and improve health care in Jamaica.

"The Hyacinth Gloria Chen School of Nursing is a privilege and honour for many lives here in Jamaica. (Michael) Lee Chin has given a state-of-the-art facility that will prove as an agent for change for many," she said.

The nursing school at NCU was established over 40 years ago and was the first tertiary institution in the Caribbean to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing.

Jamaican nurses are world-renowned and nursing is a practical course that is in high demand, both locally and internationally. How-ever, in recent times, the sector has been faced with significant difficulties. There are currently 2,000 nurses employed in the public-health sector and the system will only begin to cope when the number reaches 4,000 to 5,000.

President of the Northern Caribbean University, Dr Herbert Thompson, speaking at Sunday's official opening of the Hyacinth Chen School of Nursing, held at the university. - Keisha Hill photo