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Tufton details plans for new Old Harbour Comprehensive Health Centre

Published:Friday | December 16, 2022 | 1:01 AM
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Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton (right); Mayor of Spanish Town Norman Scott (left), chairman of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation; Dr Susan Wright; assistant regional technical director, SERHA; and Everald Warmington, minister wi
Ian Allen
Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton (right); Mayor of Spanish Town Norman Scott (left), chairman of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation; Dr Susan Wright; assistant regional technical director, SERHA; and Everald Warmington, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and member of parliament, St Cathereine South Western, look at 3D images of what the new Old Harbour Health Centre will look like when it is built. Occasion was the Ministry of Health and Wellness Old Harbour’s Open House and Exhibition for the Rehabilitation of Jamaica’s Public Health Facilities. The open house was held at the Lions Civic Centre in Old Harbour on Wednesday.
Carlene Ledgister-Williams (left), public health nurse; Pauline Thomas (centre), community health aid; and Jaycelyn Brown-Kerr, registered midwife, all stationed at the Old Harbour Health Centre, look at 3D images of what the new Old Harbour Health Centre
Ian Allen
Carlene Ledgister-Williams (left), public health nurse; Pauline Thomas (centre), community health aid; and Jaycelyn Brown-Kerr, registered midwife, all stationed at the Old Harbour Health Centre, look at 3D images of what the new Old Harbour Health Centre will look like when it is built.
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Plans to expedite the construction of the new Old Harbour Comprehensive Health Centre to replace the existing type-three facility were outlined on Wednesday.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, speaking at the Old Harbour Open House and Exhibition held at the civic centre, said the proposed multi-million-dollar facility is now in the procurement stage and will go to tender in January 2023 with the hope of finding a contractor by March, after which construction will commence.

“It is not just a health centre; it locks into the bigger plan which is why the 70-year-old Spanish Town Hospital is being developed also,” said Tufton, adding that the new facility will come with additional services to cater to the vastly expanding Old Harbour population.

According to Tufton, the facility will comprise some 9680 square feet of space and will offer emergency care, pharmacy and laboratory services, mental health, dentistry, maternal and childcare, contact investigation, health promotion, eye care, promotion of life style nutrition in schools and homes, among other vital services.

Tufton also disclosed that a parking lot designed to accommodate 40 vehicles, disabled parking space and an ambulance parking lot, along with pedestrian access near the security pool will be included.

He further disclosed that the facility will benefit from the digitisation of patients’ medical history to ensure speedy attention.

So far, according to Tufton, some US$260,000 worth of equipment has already been added to the old facility that will be transferred to the new facility when completed.

He noted that the ministry will be leasing additional medical equipment as opposed to buying them, and make the responsibility for maintenance a function of the lessor.

St Catherine South Western member of parliament, Everad Warmington, said the project is long overdue.

“I have been lobbying for this health centre since 2007 and I am happy to know that it will now be a reality,” he said.

Warmington said plans were developed for a typ-five facility, but it was scrapped and now the plans have been redrawn to facilitate the new comprehensive health facility.

Old Harbour resident, Joan Ford, is also of the view that the new facility is long overdue.

After viewing the prototypes of the facility and the Spanish Town Hospital, she pointed to over-crowding, doctor-shortage, and inadequate services at the existing health centre that will be addressed.

The Old Harbour Comprehensive Health Centre and other health facilities that are being upgraded in St Catherine are financed by the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union supported Health Systems strengthening programme of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.