Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton on Thursday described the Cabinet’s decision to cancel Christmas parties in Government entities as “difficult”, saying the action was taken with good reason and should not be viewed as a wholesale restriction on activities which lift spirits.

“Normally, by next week everyone will be focused on the season. You heard the announcement around Government’s decision to suspend the normal mode of Christmas cheer through department parties, and so on, and it’s a difficult decision because it is a time when we are accustomed to a particular type of activity, and not to say that we shouldn’t be encouraging each other and wishing them all the best,” the health minister said during a post-Hurricane Melissa media briefing.

“I don’t think the intention is to say that within an office context, an office can’t bring its team together and bring good tidings of joy. It’s just the grand outings and the parties and the booking of venues and music and all of that, as is normally the case, that the Government has decided to suspend, and with good reason.

“The good reason being that when you have almost 40 per cent of the country that are in a mentally, emotionally and otherwise challenging circumstance, they are going to have to go through this season in an extreme case still trying to come to terms with their position,” Tufton pointed out.

He encouraged Jamaicans to make every effort to support people in need over the holiday season.

“We in health see this as a public health challenge and we want to be a big part of leading a charge supporting these communities, but it’s a charge that all of Jamaica should recognise. While we give God thanks for our own lives and what we have been blessed with and recognise the meaning of the season, the meaning of the season is to help those who are less fortunate,” the health minister said.

On Wednesday, Minister of Information Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon used the weekly post-Melissa media briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew to announce that Cabinet had issued a directive cancelling all Christmas parties for Government entities this year.

“We will not be having Christmas parties. We have agreed to allow small in-ministry or in-department recognition and morale-building activities. So if you’re doing something in the office…that is fine, but no rental of external venues is allowed. We are strongly, though, encouraging all our ministries, departments, and agencies to conduct outreach activities with members of their team that have been affected and who reside in the affected areas,” Morris Dixon said.