New York, USA – Buoyed by the success of the ongoing assistance by three groups of United States-based Jamaican medical professionals in the fight against the novel coronavirus in their homeland, Consul General to New York Alsion Roach-Wilson is currently working to have the programme extended into this year.

The missions ended on December 17, and Roach-Wilson said that “the decision to extend the programme came as a result of widespread interest by other Jamaican doctors and nurses to contribute to the effort”.

“There is also a sense that the island could be affected by a new (fourth) wave of the virus in the coming months,” Roach-Wilson, who initiated the earlier efforts, told the Jamaica Observer.

The consul general also explained that while last year’s medical missions were confined mainly to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital in Westmoreland, the aim is to extend the programme to other hospitals across the country.

Beginning last November, three groups of medical professionals took turns to work alongside their counterparts in Jamaica, to help control the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Westmoreland capital and surrounding areas.

Roach-Wilson told the Observer that some nurses from the Philippines had volunteered for this year’s mission and that their participation reflected the collaboration which had gone into the continuing effort.

She also singled out a number of companies including JetBlue Airlines – which provided tickets; Cornerstone United Holdings Jamaica Ltd which assisted with ground transportation and the Negril Chamber of Commerce, among others, which had helped with the mission.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton and Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith were also instrumental in getting the missions organised.

While she was unable to put a dollar cost on the missions, the consul general said it would have been sizable, but noted that the mission was being done at no cost to the Jamaican Government.

As part of the effort to help with the island’s heath system, Roach-Wilson said, she is currently in talks with a Hartford, Connecticut-based hospital in a bid to secure about 60 oxygen concentrated generators, which are badly needed in Jamaica.