SANDY BAY, Hanover – For Suzette Smith, it was eight miles well worth travelling. That’s the distance she had to cover to get from Black Gate to Sandy Bay Primary School in Hanover to benefit from a health fair staged by the High Commission of India, the Hanover Health Department, and the Hanover Municipal Corporation.

Smith went to get her daughter’s back-to-school medical check-up done but while she was there she also used the opportunity to get a medical check-up herself. She did a breast examination along with blood pressure and diabetes checks.

“It helps me a lot because to do those things it would cost me money and I don’t have any right now,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

After a private facility told her how much it would cost to have her daughter’s medical exam done, she reached out to a public clinic where she was told about the health fair in Sandy Bay.

“It is $2,500 for the medical now. Because everybody is doing school medical, they raised the price,” Smith told the Observer West.

She is hoping that, in the future, there will be more fairs, with free medical checks available, during the back-to-school period to help her and others in need.

The recent fair, which catered to 200 people, had doctors, nurses and other volunteers offering their services. All the medication was provided by pharmaceutical companies, mostly from Bioprist.

Medical Officer of Health for Hanover Dr Kaushal Singh, who works out of the Hanover Health Department, said those who visited the fair were able to access all the services — except for mental health — that the parish’s clinics typically provide. Among the services offered were routine tests for non-communicable diseases, oral screening so that an appointment can be done at a health facility to access oral health care, cancer screening, prostate checks, assessments of cholesterol and haemoglobin levels, as well as measuring of height, weight and body mass index (BMI). Patients will collect their test results at public health clinics.

For those who may have missed the fair, Dr Singh noted that other events spearheaded by the health department in collaboration with other stakeholders will be hosted across the parish. He said one is scheduled for Green Island in August and he is encouraging the public to make use of this and other upcoming initiatives.

Noting that it has been challenging getting venues for these events, Dr Singh is urging stakeholders to partner with the health department and help address this issue. For the Sandy Bay fair, the medical officer gave special commendation to councillor for the Sandy Bay Division (PNP) Andria Dehaney Grant, who is also the deputy mayor of Lucea, and the Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels for making the venue possible.

For his part, High Commissioner of India to Jamaica Masakui Rungsung expressed his gratitude for the support received and invited more stakeholders to come on-board to support future events. He pointed to another big fair being planned for August 13 in Kingston. This forms part of a one-week celebration in recognition of India’s Independence Day on August 25.

President and CEO of the Bioprist Group of Companies Dr Guna Muppuri said his company will continue to provide support.

“The purpose of this initiative is to touch the untouched and to reach those that cannot be reached,” stated the CEO, who in the past served Hanover as a medical officer before leaving the public health sector to go into private practice.

The High Commission of India medical camp was launched by High Commissioner Rungsung in Kingston in 2021 before it was expanded across Jamaica with the support of Bioprist Pharmaceuticals and others.