New Barrett Town Health Centre to benefit thousands

Some 9,000 residents of Barrett Town and neighbouring areas in St James are benefiting from improved health services at the newly rehabilitated community health centre.

The facility was officially handed over last Friday following a $43.8-million upgrading project, which included the addition of new offices, a records room, a kitchenette, restrooms for staff and patients and a nebulisation room.

The project was implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) under the European Union (EU)-funded Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP).

Currently in its fourth phase, the PRP is focused on improving living conditions in underserved communities by providing access to quality basic infrastructure and services in the areas of education, water, health, and sanitation.

Residents of Barrett Town are pleased with the improvements undertaken, which will also provide a more comfortable environment for the clinic's 13 healthcare staff. Hilma Moore said she is proud to have such a facility in Barrett Town.

"Over the years, I have been living here and it was never like this; I am so happy. I feel overwhelmed, I am overjoyed, and I hope that the people of this community will take care of our health centre," she said.

Chairman of JSIF Dr Wayne Henry said that the value of the work done should not be viewed simply as a monetary investment but "rather, an investment for tomorrow, our future".

He noted that the centre, which was upgraded at a cost of just over $252 million, is the fifth across the island and the fourth in St James to benefit from upgrading work under the PRP.

Head of the EU Delegation to Jamaica, Ambassador Marianne Van Steen, noted that the health centre is "for those who are most vulnerable, the children, the elderly, those people who live with chronic conditions, people living with disabilities. Through this health centre, we hope that they will be given easy access to preventative and remedial care".

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who is the member of parliament for St James East Central, encouraged staff and residents of the beneficiary areas to take care of the facility.