SECTORAL DEBATE |Health and Wellness Ministry wants more doctors at health centres
Published:Tuesday | May 7, 2019 | 3:41 PM
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, says the ministry will be embarking on a plan to increase the number of doctors available to Jamaicans at the health centres.
Tufton announced that the Wellness portfolio was added to the ministry by the Prime Minister.
The ministry is looking to expand its Senior House Officer programme with the aim of retaining physicians for an additional year post-internship.
This, Tufton said, could mean 100 more doctors in primary care.
He said the ministry is also moving to increase access to services at health clinics.
Tufton disclosed that, based on the existing structure, 52% of existing primary care facilities provide treatment or curative services and only 18% offer this service daily.
This is not good enough, given the current epidemiological profile of the population, Tufton said.
To address this issue a new Primary Care Model is being developed.
Tufton explained that the model establishes three levels of health centres: Community, District, and Comprehensive, and defines the scope of services that will be provided in each.
Phase one will see the re-designation of 127 health centres into the three named categories and the expansion of services islandwide.
- Jerome Reynolds
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