Jamaica’s public health system saw 1,155,949 patient visits in hospitals and 1,596,871 patient visits in health centres in 2025 according the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton.

Tufton provided the statistics on Tuesday as he made his contribution to the 2026-27 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.

“We completed 44,116 diagnostics tests, conducted 75,889 surgeries and some 770,000 patients in the public sector were serviced by the National Health Fund Drug Serv Pharmacies,” Tufton shared.

“We did this with a total staff complement of close 24,000 comprising some 4,745 nurses, 2,678 doctors and another 16,575 paramedical and administrative staff,” he added while declaring that there is “more to come”.

Tufton told the Parliament that this financial year will see the completion of a number of capital projects that will significantly enhance the capacity of healthcare infrastructure and services. These include the Cornwall Regional Hospital and the Western Child and Adolescent Hospital in St James and three major comprehensive health centres in St Catherine; St Jago, Old Harbour and Greater Portmore which when commissioned into service will see an estimated 700,000 patient visits per annum under new and improved environment and after an expenditure of approximately J$17.5 billion.

Speaking of the long-delayed Cornwall Regional Hospital project, Tufton lifted his hands and said “Thank you Jesus, God is good. This is the year that Cornwall Regional will be open to the people of western Jamaica”.