Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton, in a recent statement to Parliament, said “[Jamaica] has a sick population.”

He continued: “Madam Speaker, one in three Jamaicans has hypertension; one in eight has diabetes; one in two is overweight or obese; and four in every 10 people living with these diseases are unaware of their status. Jamaicans are also dying younger. The analysis of the deaths in 2020 found that 59 per cent or 12,747 people had died early; that is, before their 75th birthday, and non-communicable diseases [NCDs] are a significant driver of those numbers. NCD deaths in 2020 were the cause of some 144,853 potential years of life lost — a 30 per cent increase in potential years of life lost or 33,775 more years lost per year in a decade.”

The minister concluded that if our people knew their health statuses their chances of living longer would be greater; therefore, we needed to do something about it.

“Therefore, Madam Speaker, MPs [Members of Parliament] are to be provided with, in the first instance, $1,000,000 each to host at least two health fairs in their constituencies. These health fairs will give our people a chance to know their numbers. Once they become aware of their numbers, the next step is to make the needed lifestyle adjustments, including coming into care. This requires that we continue to make the needed improvements to the physical infrastructure at our health facilities to ensure that they are able to accommodate those in need while delivering the required care management for the best possible health outcomes.”

I sat listening to him in Parliament sighing and thinking, “Here we go again with the public relations announcements to numb people into believing that their health is a priority.” Because, if we are honest, how much does the Ministry of Health and Wellness really contribute to the state of our people’s health nationally?

While I am grateful as an MP for the funds to implement the minister’s proposal of a health fair in St Ann South Eastern, this cannot be a solution or the best use of funds as non-communicable diseases, which have been a long-term problem requiring lifestyles changes and long-term interventions.

Hence, I proposed to the minister that I would allocate more funds from my allotted Constituency Development Fund (CDF), in addition to what he proposed, and ask a team from the Ministry of Health and Wellness to visit communities,, instead to map our people, so that we can have more targeted approaches to help them.

We would be foolhardy if we disregarded the fact that diabetes can result from a person’s poor economic situation and inability to purchase nutritional food, especially vital proteins. Our working class can only afford to feed themselves and their families rice, flour dumplings, yam, and Irish potatoes — think starch. Their budget cannot stretch to buy the daily minimum requirement of protein.

Therefore, slivers of either tin mackerel, chicken neck and back, and turkey neck with mounds of heaping white rice or some big flour dumplings make up the composition of a meal in the evening. Sometimes, maybe a “likkle” callaloo or some steamed cabbage and frankfurters give some variation, but having the three essential food groups on their plate may not be an everyday reality.

They cannot afford to buy a whole chicken, some pork, or a piece of beef daily. They may be able to buy a few pounds of chicken parts or some salt fish to flavour their pot. You ask why?

Simply, chicken, pork, and beef are prohibitively expensive in Jamaica, with import duties on chicken being 280 per cent. Yet we import millions of United States dollars worth of chicken neck, back, and other offals annually for our citizens to consume.

Realistically, though, can Jamaica afford to protect any manufacturer needing this level of duty protection, particularly for a product with such a low local value added? What’s the benefit to our country and people if, in the final analysis, they still can’t afford to buy or eat chicken as a daily supplement?

I’ve heard the argument about protecting our small local farmers. Still, small farmers do not sell the vast majority of chickens consumed in this country available in our supermarkets, as only two companies offer supply at that level — Jamaica Broilers and CB Chicken.

There is a direct relationship between our nation’s carbohydrate consumption and diabetes and high blood pressure, corresponding to our citizens’ inability to afford the food they need to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Regarding beef, our cattle herd has fallen by 80 per cent from 350,000 head to less than 60,000 head today. So, where is the benefit of this duty protection intended to increase local production?

Most of this import tax regime is more than 30 years old, and yet we have not seen improvement in much of our livestock production over the past 20 years. Rather, we have seen an explosion in the cost to the Ministry of Health and taxpayers to meet this cost of a sick nation. We have become a nation living on an unhealthy diet, primarily because we cannot afford protein essential for a healthy body.

I am not advocating wholesale removal of duties, but I am supporting a rationalisation of the import duties. In a globalised world we should guide our farmers into crops for export, providing them with guaranteed prices to ensure they make a good living, rather than this marginalised income from raising chicken or growing Irish potatoes.

In a globalised world we should focus on how Jamaica has a competitive advantage and benefit from what other countries can do more efficiently. For example, in Canada, potato growers utilise land the size of the parish of Portland, and processing facilities can keep the crop for six months. How can we compete with that using small hillside acreage in rural parishes?

Additionally, if medical technology and other equipment are needed to improve our nation’s health and the well-being of our citizens, could someone please explain to me the benefit to the country from taxing them?

So, a doctor must pay interest on the loan (which includes import duty) he/she takes out to buy medical equipment. The doctor then has to charge his patients more to cover this cost. Those patients who can’t afford to pay the price for private health care resort to either hugging up their pain and suffering or trying their luck in the public health system. Sometimes older equipment are bought, rather than new, because of the high import duties.

Recently, the Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke reduced the import duty on racehorses, accepting the recommendations of the racing industry that the tax was counterproductive as fewer horses were being imported, and the thoroughbred stock was being depleted and sustained viability threatened. Furthermore, the Government made most of its money on horses from a tax on the betting turnover.

The minister referred to the changes as enlightened taxation. Yes, Minister, it is enlightened. However, let’s have the same broadened enlightenment then and a more joined-up approach towards helping our people get healthy by making the food they need more affordable.

And can we have the same enlightened approach and rationalisation to the medical industry by reviewing the import taxes on medical equipment and the taxes on protein? Indeed, our citizens’ health is certainly more important than the health of the racing industry.

Lisa Hanna is Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, People’s National Party spokesperson on foreign affairs and foreign trade, and a former Cabinet member.