St Ann’s Bay Hospital receives grant funding from Japan
THE ST ANN’S Bay Regional Hospital, which serves nearly 360,000 persons per year, is to benefit from an $8.2-million grant contract being implemented under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Programme of the government of Japan.
The signing took place at the health ministry’s New Kingston offices yesterday between Japan’s new Ambassador to Jamaica Hiromasa Yamazaki and Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton.
Yamazaki noted that the grant contract is the first collaboration between the Japanese Embassy and the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital, adding that it was his hope that the new human security project would primarily serve the needs of every person under the hospital’s reach.
“Going forward, the Embassy of Japan and JICA (Japan international Cooperation Agency), through our Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme, would like to objectively continue our pursuit in providing worthwhile contributions for Jamaica,” he said.
“This will be done especially through our ‘Kusanone’ GGP non-refundable Grant Assistance Programme, JICA’s training programmes, as well as technical cooperation programmes, such as the recently signed Energy Efficiency Management Programme, which will contribute positively towards the long-term sustainable development and socioeconomic livelihoods of the Jamaican people,” Yamazaki added.
Tufton noted Japan’s continued assistance in the Jamaican context in the areas of agriculture and the energy sector, as well as grants and technical assistance programmes, reasoning that while the health ministry remained underfunded, it did well given the resources that are provided.