KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Victoria Jubilee Hospital has received medical equipment and supplies valued at US$20,000 from United States-based charity the Jamaica United Relief Association (JURA), to improve its neonatal services.

The equipment and supplies, which have already been put into use by the hospital, include a ventilator, DVT (deep vein thrombosis) pumps, stirrups and laparoscope.

Chairman of the Kingston Public and Victoria Jubilee Hospitals Management Committee, Dr Stephanie Reid, expressed profound gratitude to the charity for its continued support, while stressing the importance of donors.

She was speaking at the official handover ceremony, held at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in downtown Kingston yesterday.

“No amount of money that the Government provides for our hospitals will be sufficient to make our hospitals work effectively. We depend heavily on our community, the partners in the community like yourselves – people who really have an interest to see healthcare as it ought to be in our country,” she said.

Victoria Jubilee Hospital, she said, is a major contributor to the health and wellness of the country’s women and babies, some of whom would not have survived without the hospital.

“However,  a major challenge for the hospital has to do with how it takes care of its neonates – little babies that they have to take care of, either born premature or underweight, and they need the additional oxygen and support that they get from a ventilator,” Dr Reid said.

President of JURA Bruce Palmer said he is extremely proud to be giving back to his country through the efforts of the association.

“This idea of assisting the Victoria Jubilee hospital was born out of an idea that came to my mind many years ago,” he said.

“You have my commitment that as long as I’m around, I will continue to make sure the organisation provides support to the Victoria Jubilee Hospital.”

He indicated that the association has already donated four incubators to the hospital and one at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

JURA is a non-profit organisation that seeks to provide humanitarian relief for the less fortunate in South Florida, Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean, in the areas of housing, healthcare, and immigration.