KINGSTON, Jamaica – Government Senator, Dr Saphire Longmore, has stated that the $1.4 billion spent by the Government over the past five years to construct and renovate poor relief facilities across the island, “has vastly exceeded anything done over the preceding 130 years of poor relief in Jamaica”.

Longmore made the statement on Friday as she made her contribution to the 2021/2022 State of the Nation Debate in the Senate.

She said the level of construction that has taken place in the institutional care system over the period “reflects the work of a government that is totally committed to the most vulnerable people (in the society)”.

Longmore noted that drop in centres have been built in Hanover, St Ann, St Thomas, Trelawny, St  Mary, St Elizabeth and St Catherine, and new male and female wards constructed at the St James Infirmary.

New male and female wards were also built at the Portland Infirmary and a new female ward established at the Manchester Infirmary, along with the new doctors and nurses station, and a new administrative building in St Elizabeth among others.

“We have seen the renovation of a number of infirmaries prior to the efforts of this Administration but the only other period that reflected some effort at maintenance and rehabilitation work was between 2003 and 2013,” Longmore observed.

She added that even then, there was no structured programme to finance or guide what was done.

“It is since 2016 that an intense, unprecedented and continuing programme of infrastructure development has been applied to the poor relief and infirmary care systems. I highlight these issues because these are the social initiatives that impact on the health of our people. We cannot just fix healthcare by applying medicines, we need to see to the development of our most vulnerable,” declared the trained psychiatrist.