ST JAMES, Jamaica— Residents of the country’s infirmaries may soon benefit from psychological support as there is now consideration being given to put staff in place to provide this service. In addition, visitors will once again be allowed at state-run facilities as of April 1.

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie made both announcements while speaking at the official opening of a male ward at the St James Infirmary in Montego Bay on Wednesday.

“We are now looking at the possibility to employ a psychiatric nurse aide within the system of the infirmary that will be to deal with those cases that we are seeing spreading up. It is a serious problem because not all of the persons who work within the facilities are trained to deal with mental health cases,” he remarked.

He spoke of less than ideal approaches he has seen utilised in the past.

“I remember going to an infirmary and I saw where they have to lock away at least three or four of the residents in an area by themselves because of the mental health challenge that they pose,” McKenzie said.

He also announced that as of April 1, visits will resume at the island’s infirmaries. Visitors were kept away and new admissions put on hold as part of measures to protect elderly residents from COVID-19. The local government minister is of the view that the resumption of these activities will have a positive impact on residents’ mental health. New admissions resumed last July.

“Some of the restrictions that we put in were to stop visits from taking place; we stopped accepting new residents, we stopped allowing the residents to go out on field trips and it paid off,” he said.

Unlike some countries, Jamaica did not have any reports of widespread COVID-19 outbreaks at infirmaries. On Wednesday, McKenzie revealed that, in total, there have been fewer than 15 COVID-related deaths within facilities across Jamaica.

“Jamaica is one of the better performing countries in the world when it comes on to care and keep of the residents,” he said while also expressing regret about the lives lost.

He also stressed the need for continued adherence to protocols in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.