ST ANDREW, Jamaica – The Oak Glades Health Centre in Delacree Park, St Andrew, has been completed to the tune of $33.98 million.

The money, the Ministry of Health said in a news release Friday, was used to construct an additional building on the facility that was donated by the United States Air Force in 2010, purchase equipment and retrofit the building by putting in place a sewage connection, installation of a partition, paved walkways and a UPS system, among other things.

Minister of Health, Dr Fenton Ferguson, while speaking today at the official opening of the health centre, said the completion and furnishing of the health centre is part of the Ministry’s drive “to develop primary health care and ensure that access to health services at this level is available to communities across the island”.

“We have been moving forward with this across the island.  So far we have completed work on over 100 health centres and we are far ahead in the development of the four Centres of Excellence in primary health care. We have one such facility in each Region,” the minister said.

“These will become the examples of best practice in primary health care and in future we hope to be able to build similar facilities that will improve access to holistic care to communities across the island,” he said.

The Oak Glades Health Centre is a type three facility which began offering services to the public in 2011. The CHASE Fund, the Ministry of Health through SERHA and the National Health Fund provided funding for the completion of the health centre, the ministry said.