THE island’s pharmaceutical services will be transferred to the National Health Fund (NHF), beginning January 2014, Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson has disclosed.

He was speaking at the Rotary Club of St Andrew meeting at the Hotel Four Seasons in Kingston last Tuesday.

“We are going to transform the pharmaceutical services, moving it out of the Ministry of Health to the National Health Fund,” he said.

With this move, Dr Ferguson said it is expected that “we will be in a much better position, because we are also coming with a Government of Jamaica (GOJ) health card that will be unique, using your Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN), so we will be able to identify persons as we respond.”

Among its uses, the GOJ health card will facilitate proper systems of monitoring and evaluation, and the optimisation of service delivery channels for pharmaceuticals.

In 2010, the Ministry of Health undertook a pharmaceutical services survey. The main aim of the survey was to evaluate the pharmaceutical services in Jamaica; to determine the accessibility, affordability and availability of essential medicines to persons who are seeking healthcare services; and the safety, effectiveness and quality of essential medicines used in Jamaica.