Help on the way for local health centres
Published:Tuesday | August 16, 2022 | 12:05 AM
Representatives of Caribbean Angels, Inc, a non-profit organisation that donates medical supplies to Caribbean countries, will be visiting Jamaica on September 6 to offer assistance to several health centres.
The visit will include a tour of three health centres where the organisation will make donations in partnership with Jamaica Hospital Supplies (JHS). The beneficiaries will be the Waterford, Greater Portmore, and Christian Pen health centres.
Merlyn ‘Angel’ Barrett, chief executive officer (CEO) of Caribbean Angels, told The Gleaner that clinics were chosen based on their need for better resources after meeting with the supervisors of each clinic.
“These are clinics that a lot of people probably don’t pay attention to because they focus more on the bigger hospitals and bigger clinics and (are) not looking at the clinics that really need the help,” she said.
Barrett added that the purpose of the visit was to provide for a hands-on approach to the outreach of Caribbean Angels.
“I felt that since it was my first time working with these clinics, ... it was good to come down and meet the supervisors. Not only that, but we wanted to see the condition of the clinics to see how we can provide even more help,” she said.
In addition to donations of medical supplies, Caribbean Angels will be assisting the Greater Portmore Health Clinic with installing air conditioning and the Bog Walk Health Clinic with installing ceiling fans. Barrett told The Gleaner that although the organisation does not usually handle such projects, they made the exception for these clinics after they reached out about their issues.
She said there could be other projects in the future between Caribbean Angels and Jamaica with plans for a a possible partnership with the the Ministry of Health, and pending contact with Kingston Public Hospital.
“The problem that we’re having is that we’ll get a lot of donations when it comes to medical equipment but with the clinic, when we were talking to Mr Campbell, who is the parish manager, the clinics have a problem with picking them up once we deliver them.”
She said there would be further discussions to include the Ministry of Health to allow for ease of the process.
Barrett said the trip would also include a tour of JHS to see more of the products they offer as well as the general operations of the company.