Tufton has big plans to improve children healthcare
HEALTH MINISTER Dr Christopher Tufton has promised that several measures would be implemented to improve service at the Bustamante Hospital for Children and paediatric care, in general, across the island.
Addressing the official opening of the upgraded isolation ward at the Bustamante Hospital for Children yesterday, Tufton said that the new measures would improve the expansion of facilities under the Programme for the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PROMAC).
“There are great things in store for Bustamante Hospital for Children, and, indeed, for paediatric and adolescent care in Jamaica in the years to come,” said Tufton.
“This administration is very committed to that, and our prime minister and this Cabinet, supported by others, in a few weeks, will be breaking ground for an expansion under the PROMAC programme,” added Tufton.
He reiterated that a new facility to support the most modern paediatric cardio care in the Caribbean and a new hospital funded by the Chinese and the United States governments were already part of the development.
“Before the year is out, we will be breaking ground in the western part of the country ... for a brand-new US$43 million paediatric and adolescent hospital on the grounds of the Cornwall Regional Hospital. A 250-bed facility, when completed in two years or so, will complement the work of the Bustamante Hospital,” said Tufton.
The isolation ward at the Bustamante Hospital serves to provide critical care to children whose illness requires that they are separated from the general hospital population. The facility has been upgraded with three new air conditioning units, which will control the air flow and increase the capacity of the hospital to deal with infectious diseases.