THE female dormitory at the Port Antonio Infirmary is to undergo a $15-million upgrade, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie disclosed recently.

Ground was broken on Monday, November 14 for the upgrade which is phase one of a two-phase project. Phase two will facilitate the transformation of the infirmary into a state-of-the-art facility.

McKenzie said that this is the first in a series to be done across the island.

“We have identified, so far, the parishes of St James, Manchester, Portland, and Westmoreland,” he said.

The minister added that there will be a partnership with the Ministry of Health to care for the mentally ill at the facility.

“There are some infirmaries in the country where, when a medical doctor is to visit, those infirmaries have to pay the doctor and that is totally unacceptable.

“So, one of the partnerships that we have developed with the Ministry of Health is that we are going to be ensuring that the doctors who are assigned to the parishes visit these infirmaries on a regular basis.

“It can’t be you have an institution where 98 per cent of those who are housed in these facilities only have the use of a medical doctor probably once or twice a month” he said.

The minister said a programme will be put in place to facilitate patients who have been discharged but have nowhere to go.

“I’m pleased to announce that, following discussions with officials from the Ministry of Health, and those discussions are ongoing, that there are two parishes where facilities are ready and the only thing that is left for us now is to take these patients from the hospital and place them in the infirmaries in facilities that have been upgraded. Those two parishes are Trelawny and St Ann and those two facilities will account for more than 30 patients who are presently in hospitals occupying bed spaces that are needed,” he said.

Mayor of Port Antonio, Wayne McKenzie, who was present at the ground-breaking ceremony, asked that there be a mental health officer assigned to the infirmaries to help with patient care.

Portland Eastern Member of Parliament Dr Lynvale Bloomfield welcomed the facility and asked that the project be started early and that the scope of work will be done in accordance with stated environmental standards for the benefit of all.