MANDEVILLE, Manchester — A senior health administrator says more than 12 health centres in south-central Jamaica have been renovated and expanded to meet the increasing demand for health services across the region.

Director at the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) Michael Bent told the Jamaica Observer recently that some of the health centres have not been officially reopened, but are offering well-needed services to the public.

“In 2024 after the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Some of our health facilities were damaged and we made the decision to restore them with resilience. We have the Newell Health Centre, Bellevue Health Centre, and Southfield Health Centre. Those three were totally transformed. Before Beryl the [clinics] had timber roofs. Now we have changed all of those to ensure that the roofs are slab, concrete,” Bent said.

“We have expanded in some areas, so that we can take on more service space. We also put in the infrastructure for electronics as we are going digital,” he added.

Other clinics in St Elizabeth were also renovated under Operation Refresh including Fyffes Pen, Ginger Hill, Myersville, and Junction health centres.

In Manchester several clinics there were upgraded under Operation Refresh namely Craighead, Robin’s Hall and Lincoln.

“We have some others that are ongoing including Cross Keys, Harmons, Pratville,” Bent said.

In Clarendon clinics in Frankfield, Raymond’s, Toll Gate, Thompson Town, and Cumberland have recently undergone renovations.

“In these facilities we changed the furniture, installed air-conditioning units, and have places where staff can have a kitchenette. We also did some landscaping to make the places look more attractive. We put in fencing, so people are now able to go and get health-care service in a friendlier environment and also the upgrades improve staff morale. We have over 12 health centres that we want to have officially reopened,” said Bent.

“We have been doing renovation and restoration of several of our health centre, primary care facilities over the last five to six years in the parishes of Manchester, Clarendon, and St Elizabeth and that was a strategic move, because we recognise that the maintenance when we had done the restoration and renovation of our facilities and were using the timber roofs after a [few] years we had an issue with termites impacting the roofs especially.

”We also made the decision that we needed to improve the facilities where we offer services, so our staff members work in some comfort. Our patients should also be able to access service in comfort,” added Bent.