While the debate continues, both in the House and in the streets, as to whether the successes touted by the Government have reached the regular Jamaican, whether in his pocket or at his dining table, two recent items of news emanating from the health sector have not escaped notice.

Images of the 36-bed Ward 2 North at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) following extensive renovation might not have gone viral, but the long-needed development will impact thousands who pursue health care at the hospital.

The project, a public-private partnership valued at more than $10 million, saw an upgrade in critical infrastructural offerings of the surgical ward. DM Equipment Company Limited/Zoukie Trucking Services Limited and Zhejiang Putian Integrated Housing Company Limited, China, have been hailed as key donors.

The renovations, executed over seven months, mark a milestone in the efforts to improve hospitals. Simply put, Acting KPH CEO Dr Natalie Whylie said: “What it means for us is that the staff and patients will have a better space…to deliver care in a more efficient way…”

The second deliverable that has been noted is reduced waiting time at May Pen Hospital following implementation of an electronic health records (EHR) system.

We are told that four months into utilising the multi-billion-dollar system, the result is significant improvement in service delivery times.

No longer do patients have to wait until dockets are retrieved from the medical records filing room — or wherever they might have been misplaced.

May Pen Hospital CEO Mrs Eugena Clarke-James said information is now available to doctors in real time, on computer screens.

“It is a dynamic system…and the ultimate result is, our health sector is being significantly improved,” she shared.

This is part of a wider “strengthening programme” for which a loan of US$50 million was accessed from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Twelve other facilities are set to benefit from the initial roll-out.

In the not-too-distant future, we are told a patient can go to any public facility and receive continued care as their records will be available on the EHR system.

Other features include a patient-registration system for appointments, assignment of patients in the triage process of a facility, and seamless interface with critical diagnostic imaging such as X-rays and CT scans.

The system, which is built on the philosophy of ‘one patient, one record’, will see the transition to paperless operations.

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton termed the system as transformational, adding that it will facilitate early diagnosis of an illness, by transiting the information needed, and giving patients the reassurance that care is informed and managed.

Access to decent health care falls under Goal #3 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and there is no dispute as to its efficacy.

If a mother no longer has to brave the dead of night to get a number at a health centre to ensure she receives care, or one more patient gets access to a bed to facilitate a needed procedure, these news items are success stories.

No doubt, it would be preferred to be celebrating an overhaul of the health care system, but these nuggets, irrespective of their parentage or quantum, put the country farther along the road.