KINGSTON, Jamaica – Hundreds of residents of Thompson Town and surrounding communities in Clarendon are now receiving improved services at the renovated health centre, done at a cost of $25 million.

The project was carried out under the Government’s Operation REFRESH initiative and financed by the National Health Fund (NHF) and the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA).

Improvements undertaken include the waiting area, staff quarters, solar panels for energy efficiency, air conditioning, and sanitary conveniences.

Speaking at the reopening of the centre on February 20, Minister of Health and Wellness, Christopher Tufton, described the exercise as refreshing the fundamental principles of good healthcare, which starts in the community.

“In the place where people are born and raised, your health centre gives you the advice, the guidance, and the fundamentals around health-seeking behaviour – drink more water and get your immunisation shot,” the minister said.

Tufton urged community members to access the services at the centre, and check on their health status, which could lead to their longevity.

“We have to start with the very basics, the fundamentals of good health,” he said, stressing the need for individuals to make regular visits to health centres.

“When you end up at the hospital, as they say, the proverbial ‘horse has gone through the gate’ already. Because at that time, you are so advanced in your ways or in your state that the kind of operations that you need are quite debilitating and sometimes may not even have a recovery mode,” the minister said.

Health centres, the minister said, must be seen as offering quality preventive healthcare services.

–         JIS

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