KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Government has identified land in the Bernard Lodge area to build a new hospital for Portmore, and the feasibility study is now being done to determine the format and the structure of the medical facility.

Making the disclosure, Minister of Health and Wellness, Christopher Tufton, said the Administration has a vision for the area, along with a “strategic plan”, which is being worked on in earnest, for the communities that are growing in population.

Addressing the monthly meeting of the St Catherine Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday in Spanish Town, the minister said the Government recognises the expansion of the population in the areas, and “we are going beyond that, because we feel as a Government that we need to split the parish”.

Tufton also said the expansion of healthcare facilities for the parish of St Catherine is to meet the current population growth, and for future increase, based on the construction of houses.

“From a population standpoint, from the development of housing, for example, whether houses that have been built or houses that are being built or houses that are to be built, we’re talking about thousands and thousands [of people],” the minister said.

“Bernard Lodge alone represents close to 15,000 new houses. If you add three to four residents of each house, it means multiples of that in terms of new population. Starting from 2016 to today, a lot has been done, and a lot more is being done, and will be done, to address the progress that is being made from a public health perspective,” the minister added.

Noting that over the past nine years more people have been entering St Catherine and using the Spanish Town Hospital, which is under a $5.5 billion expansion, the minister said the number of people seeking care at the institution moved from 39,000 to approximately 45,000 in 2024.

“And if you factor what is coming, it means more people are going to go there next year and the year after and the year after. We have to prepare, and we have made some progress, even though there is more that needs to be done. In the area of staff, in 2016, we had 223 nurses, ranging in various categories,” the minister said.

At the end of 2024, Tufton said, the hospital had 489 nurses, and coming from 83 doctors, it now has 194, pointing out that this is a “significant increase”.

The minister said that the population is expanding, and the demand is expanding “but we have a plan to try and address what we have seen as the forecasting of what is to come, based on the expansions that are taking place”.

–         JIS