Issa Trust Foundation donates $57 million to health sector
Published:Monday | January 10, 2022 | 12:05 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AS PART of its ongoing thrust to support the local health sector, the Issa Trust Foundation has donated $57 million in COVID-19 personal protective equipment and other medical supplies to the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) and the North East Regional Health Authority.
The medical items were handed over during a formal ceremony at the Couples Negril Resort in Westmoreland on Friday. They include face shields, isolation gowns, bleach and sanitiser, N95 respirator masks and three-ply face masks.
Paul Issa, chairman of the Issa Trust Foundation, described the donation as a continuation of the organisation’s mandate for community outreach.
“Every year, we seem to do better in what we are able to source for the country. We try to operate mostly where our staff live, and we try to give back to the community where we operate,” said Issa.
“A lot of the donation is medical supplies, and some of it is actual medicine. We try to do what we can and we work closely with the regional health authorities. I know it is a drop in the bucket, but it is still significant,” Issa added.
In response, WRHA Chairman Eric Clarke expressed immense gratitude for the donation.
MUCH NEEDED
“I am delighted to be here today, and there is so much that we get from the Issa Trust Foundation that we do not have time to say thank you. The Issa Trust Foundation members are experts at this kind of thing and it is an array of much-needed things that have come. So on behalf of the WRHA, I say thank you so much to the Issa Foundation,” said Clarke.
The Issa Trust Foundation was founded by Couples Resorts Jamaica in 2005 with the aim of advocating for the medical and educational needs of children and families in Jamaica.
The foundation has been particularly active in healthcare and educational programmes in Jamaica’s western and northeast regions, with donations in the last year alone valued at $675 million.
In the meantime, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who was present for Friday’s ceremony, recommended closer collaboration between all health stakeholders to promote improvement and engagement of Jamaica’s health services.
“We have to do more to create a closer relationship between what we do in Government and the engagement of the people who benefit from the service. Part of the philanthropic effort has to be to convince more people to recognise that we all have an interest in identifying with a service that is critical to our survival,” said Tufton.
“The Issa Trust Foundation has created a progressive posture that many others have yet to believe in, and we now have to sell a philosophy of engagement,” Tufton added. “We cannot live any way we want to live and expect that a hospital is going to be there when we are ready for it.”