MOH inks deals with eight private facilities to deliver over 500 surgeries

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has signed eight agreements with private institutions for the delivery of more than 500 surgeries under the Code Care intervention, as part of its efforts to reduce the backlog of elective surgeries in Jamaica. 

The surgeries are to be done over the next 10 months.

The institutions include Andrew's Memorial Hospital, the Heart Institute of the Caribbean, Medical Associates, The University Hospital of the West Indies and Winchester Surgical and Medical Institute in Kingston.

In western Jamaica, the others are Gwest Medical and Surgery Centre, Hospiten Montego Bay and Montego Bay Hospital and Urology Centre. 

Tufton gave the update during Tuesday's sitting of the House of Representatives. 

The Code Care programme aims to remove 2,000 patients, who are waiting for surgery, from the public system and give them access to health treatments that enhance their quality of life. 

Tufton said that more than 170 patients, many of whom had been on the waiting list for elective surgeries for more than four years, had been removed and that this statistic included roughly 35 children who underwent ear, nose, and throat surgery at the Bustamante Hospital for Children. 

Tufton also revealed that the first mission team consisting of six American nurses and one anaesthesiologist is scheduled to arrive in Jamaica on December 1 to collaborate with local medical personnel at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover until December 6.

The aim is to accommodate 30 patients on the surgery list.

Additionally, a total of $950 million has been allotted for the project with the majority of funding to be used to renovate and upgrade nine operating theatres in four hospitals.   

"These upgrades will enable the local surgery staff to do more and to enhance the throughput of surgeries within hospitals," Tufton said. 

"To date, the teams have begun the process of developing the estimates for the renovation of the facilities and the Ministry will be utilising emergency procedures to effect the works that are urgently required on these facilities," he continued. 

In order to lessen Jamaica's challenges with staffing and training, two memoranda of understanding have been inked with the University of Miami and the Hartford Health System. 

"These agreements seek to create opportunities for training and development," he said, noting that this will offer a channel for increased technological collaboration and improve the use of telemedicine. 

-Asha Wilks.

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