MONTEGO BAY, St James — News of plans to build several new health centres in St James, in addition to the rehabilitation and expansion of several others next year, has gone down well with locally elected officials of the parish.

Among those welcoming the news was the mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay South Division), who framed it within the context of a number of major developments taking place in the western city.

“Once the children’s hospital is completed, Cornwall Regional is rehabilitated, Hard Rock Hotel is up, Pinnacle is up and several of the other developments — the National Bakery, Active Home Centre, you name it — we will have a significant influx of persons coming here, not just to live but to work,” he said last Thursday during the monthly council meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

“When the population is increasing, you need health services and you can’t all converge at a central point, you have to go to the communities to make these things more efficient [and] effective in the delivery of service,” Vernon added.

In his view, though larger facilities are slated to come on stream, community-based health care is the better approach, and he was pleased when parish manager for the St James Health Services, Lennox Wallace, said millions have been earmarked for just that approach.

“We have reached out to our own minister, and through the NHF [National Health Fund], this region has been given $500 million to improve on health centres here in St James,” Wallace told the gathering.

He then went on to highlight a list of projects and developments that are expected to get going in early 2025.

“Within the next year, January, we will be looking at a brand new health centre for Farm Heights and one in Norwood. We will be facilitating the building of a new health centre in Maroon Town and one in Roehampton,” Wallace said to applause.

“The Mafoota and Hopeton health centres, in January, will receive much work that is to be done and additions. We have been through the procurement processes already and the work will start in January,” he continued.

Wallace explained that there will be other benefits that come with the expansion work that is being undertaken in some of the health centres.

“Those of us who live in the Green Pond area should have seen work that is currently being done at the Green Pond health centre. It will include an additional five rooms and, for the first time, that facility will boast a pharmacy, so you don’t have to come downtown again,” Wallace revealed.

The facilities will also benefit from improved staffing, ensuring that residents have greater access to doctors and nurses.

Wallace also mentioned other long-term projects that will also boost health-centre infrastructure within the parish.

“When the Cornwall Regional Hospital goes back to the main building — they are currently operating the A&E from one of my own health centres; that was a Type Two — we will now have in St James, from that site, the second Type Five health centre in the parish,” he said.

“It will offer X-rays, laboratory services, and when you go to the hospital and you are triaged, it means that when they tell you to go to the health centre at eight o’clock or nine o’clock or 10 o’clock, you don’t go home to come to the health centre in the morning. That new brand facility will also open until 12 midnight,” he continued.

Wallace also provided an update on the Type Five health centre that was announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness last year.

“The Montego Bay Ice Factory, we are about 95 per cent in purchasing that facility to expand Type Five, which has outgrown its use already. The administrative building will go across five floors and we expand the administrative side to facilitate an expanded clinic,” he said.

The news was well received by the group, including Councillor Arthur Lynch (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay South East Division).

“It’s a great pleasure, today, for me to go back into the communities of Farm Heights and Rose Heights to say to them that finally we will be having our own health centre in the space,” he said.

“This way persons don’t have to travel to Type Five and down to Green Pond, although Green Pond is now expanding. I believe that my community members will be able to go to the pharmacy there instead of coming into town to do all of that,” Lynch added.

Councillor Joshua Cummings (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay Central Division) had a similar reaction.

“I always ask myself: What is wrong with Norwood? Norwood has a population of over 16,000 persons living there and no health centre,” he said.

“Mr Wallace, I am so pleased, and I am going to ask you, sir, not only to talk here but to follow up to make sure all these announcements come to fruition,” Cummings urged.