KINGSTON, Jamaica – Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, on an official visit to Canada over the past week, has appealed to Canadian investors to consider Jamaica as a friendly destination for health care investments.

 Giving the main presentation at the Economic Club of Canada on Friday, Dr Tufton told a room of approximately 100 health care company senior executives and investors that Jamaica provided a marketplace under public/private partnerships (PPP) to improve specialist care through infrastructure build-out and diagnostic equipment procurement and service provision.

He said that hospitals and health centres contend with nearly three million visits from patients per year, with waiting times in critical areas too long, requiring greater efficiencies and additional investments.

“Jamaican health care professionals, doctors and nurses, have a great reputation globally, however conditions of work and efficiency of work are less than desirable due to limited investment in infrastructure in the sector,” Dr Tufton said.

According to the minister, the government will be looking to private capital through PPP arrangements as part of the solutions going forward, with a policy for health care coming soon.