The Point Hill Health Centre, located in

the constituency of West Central St. Catherine, is to be renamed in honour of

late former Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament, Dr. Kenneth Baugh.

The operations at the type three health centre were temporarily relocated to the nearby Point Hill Community Centre to facilitate the construction of a new building, financed by the National Health Fund (NHF) at a cost of $29 million.

Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Education, Youth and Information, Karl Samuda, made the announcement during Wednesday’s (October 9) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

He said Dr. Baugh made significant

contributions to Jamaica’s health sector as a surgeon specialist at the

Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), as Portfolio Minister from 1980 to 1989, and

Opposition Spokesman.

Samuda said the late parliamentarian

spearheaded significant outcomes in the sector, including the eradication of

polio and expansion of the immunisation programme.

Dr. Baugh, who devoted 30 years to public service, passed away on September 1 at age 78. He was accorded an official funeral by the Government.

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Ex-Deputy PM Dr Ken Baugh passes at 78[/naviga:li][/naviga:ul]

He was appointed a Consultant in General

Surgery at CRH in 1976 and, thereafter, Senior Medical Officer and Chairman of

the Professional Committee of Doctors at the institution until 1980.

Prior to these appointments, Dr. Baugh was

a Senior Registrar in General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the

University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).

He served as Member of Parliament for North

West St. James from 1980 to 1989; Senator from 1989 to 1993; and Member of

Parliament for West Central St. Catherine from 2002 until his retirement in

2016.

For his distinguished service and

contribution to Parliament, public service and medicine, Dr. Baugh was

conferred with Jamaica’s fourth highest National Honour, the Order of Jamaica,

in 2016.