Medical Association of Jamaica on board for April 1 rollout of public health user-fee abolition

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Environment, Hon. Rudyard Spencer and President of the Medical Association of Jamaica, Dr. Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe emerged from a brief but wide-ranging meeting on Friday, March 14 at the Health Ministry expressing solidarity in their commitment to ensure optimal readiness for the April 1 implementation of the planned abolition of user fees at all public health facilities on the island of Jamaica.

“Failure is not an option,” the Minister posited, “It is not a matter of ‘if it can be done’ – it simply must be done. I have no doubt there will be some hiccups, but this will present us with a golden opportunity to see all the strengths and weaknesses fully exposed, and an opportunity to address the issues as the arise.”

Dr. Wright-Pascoe echoed these sentiments, “The MAJ is now fully on board, and will enlist the support of our members to put our best foot forward in the interest of our clients. It is well known that we had a number of concerns going into this meeting, but we are happy about the Minister’s ‘can-do’ approach to addressing each of these concerns. We are also satisfied that the technical team at the Ministry of Health is taking a very realistic view of what is possible come April 1, and we are happy to partner with them during this very exciting time in the development of Jamaica’s Public Health sector.”

Among the issues addressed during the meeting was the financing of the programme, the identification of human and technical resources as well as the logistics of service delivery. The Minister was supported by Permanent Secretary Dr. Grace Allen-Young, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester and Principal Financial Officer Mr. Nigel Logan. Dr. Wright Pascoe was accompanied by Past President of the MAJ Dr. Alverston-Bailey.

In closing, the Minister gave his commitment to ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders in the health sector, and announced that a full media campaign would be launched next week after final internal discussions to ensure that ‘all hands are on deck, and that we are singing from the same book’.