“The Chinese vessel and team are helping us to fill a gap, in this instance, to treat with patients who may be on a waiting list, elective surgeries, for example, because we can’t deal with them right now,” he told reporters following the tour..

“But in that period of time, we’re hoping that not only will patients be served, we’re on a parallel track, building back our system,” he declared.

Five hospitals and a slew of other medical facilities, including health centres, faced various forms of damage as Hurricane Melissa affected the island just over a month ago.

It was explained that the ship was already set to visit the region, but adjusted its schedule and has come to Jamaica early to assist the country in its recovery.

“The challenge of the reality of the situation has been that a lot of our health team members were victims of the storm, and the benefits of the non-governmental organisations (NGO) community, our bilateral partners like China and others who have come in, were to help us to provide that service in the initial stages,” he said.

“Fill any gaps that were there that could not be filled, either because our own team members were incapacitated or otherwise and while that is happening, build out back our services so that we can get back to normal,” he insisted.

It’s a view shared by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Jacqueline Bisasor-Mckenzie.

“I just want to say that it returns us to normalcy sooner, because where it is that we would have a kind of dip, and then once we return to normal services, the services would be overwhelmed,” she said.

“The international aid that we have gotten and assistance is going to prevent that big bump in the demand for services later on. So, it will assist us in returning to normalcy earlier,” she agreed.

Tufton also indicated that there are even more benefits to be reaped from the support they have gotten, especially with the benefits to staff members.

“Beyond that, it strengthens friendship and collaboration, because there’s a lot of learning here. There’s a learning on our side in terms of just seeing what is possible,” he said about the situation..

“There is the understanding between both countries and cultures, because teams may want to work together, and it leaves the opportunity for future collaboration, whether we send people to China or Chinese technicians come here,” he added.

The ship will remain in Montego Bay for three days and then will head to Kingston and later Falmouth to provide the services.

According to Minister Tufton, the ship is the latest in the fleet in China and brings with it a raft of equipment and qualified staff to Jamaica at this time.

“This is a full service hospital on the seas, so it has 300 beds. It has a number of operating theatres, all the diagnostic services, so it’s really a floating hospital,” he explained.

He said that about 600 patients can be seen each day based on the facilities and staff they have on board.

“It’s a function of how the coordination goes between the regions the patients that are identified and can get here, and there is pre planning that is taking place to try and make maximum use of the facility and the personnel who are here,” he said

Dr McKenzie explained that while the ship would be an asset to the region based on the impact of the damage, it will.also assist in Kingston based on what they have been seeing.

“We have to remember that even though the western region has been affected, there is an impact on the other regions as well,” she explained.

“They have been getting a lot of patients that are self referring, as well as patients that have been referred to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and Bustamante [Hospital for Children] and all of those Spanish Town hospital, May Pen Hospital, Mandeville Regional Hospital, Saint Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital,” she said.

She said that the ship going into Kingston gives them an opportunity as well to be able to get some of those cases done in a more expedient manner.

“We’re really hoping that we are able to take full advantage of this opportunity, to get as much as we can done,” she said.

Also present during the tour was the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Jamaica, Wang Jinfeng, who sought to underscore the importance of the partnership between both nations.

“With the assistance of the Chinese government and also the Ark Silk Road medical ship, we believe that with our joint effort, Jamaica will be rebuilt stronger and more resilient,” he said

The Ark Silk Road, which was built last year, he explained, is the most advanced medical ship in China.