KINGSTON, Jamaica. Friday, May 17, 2024: The South East Regional Health Authority
(SERHA) recently opened the Outpatient Waiting Area at the Spanish Town Hospital (STH),
which has the capacity to accommodate 300 patients, who may require care but do not need to be admitted. The covered waiting area is equipped with comfortable chairs and ceiling fans installed to improve patient experience. Funding in the amount of J$32 million was provided by SERHA.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the Minister of Health and
Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said that the upgrade of the facility forms part of the transformation process in the healthcare sector. Addressing the audience, he urged them to protect the new building that was given to them by the Government of Jamaica. “We must use the tools available to us to make things better. In another six months, when I come back here, I want to see the facility to look just as new, because we will all protect it”, he said.
He further explained that the implementation of the new patients’ electronic health records
system used at STH will reduce the waiting time of its patients and increase the capacity of the medical staff to see more patients. He added that he is also pleased with the current upgrades being made to STH including the relocated laboratory and pharmacy. The lab is equipped with more space, more tests, and the most modern equipment and over 100,000 lab tests are done each month. The new National Health Fund Pharmacy is equipped with more space, more drugs dispensing windows and comfortable waiting area and over 12,000 prescriptions are done each month.
In his remarks, Mr. Errol Greene, Regional Director, SERHA, said that the regional team and the key stakeholders have done a tremendous job in the completion of the infrastructural
developments of the hospital, including the relocated laboratory and pharmacy, the construction of the main car park, the conversion of the store building into a maintenance staff building, and a daycare centre. The major developments were made to facilitate the redevelopment of STH. During the ceremony, Mr. Greene also announced that the laboratory has implemented a system so that patients can receive their lab results via text message.
The hospital will, in fact, receive the largest infrastructure work of the Health Systems
Strengthening Programme, which is being implemented with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union. The work will see the construction of a six-story modern facility with an estimated area of 17,633.68 square meters, including several points of access for staff and patients; a skywalk to link existing wards; and incorporating areas made to its services that will be offered to meet the new and growing demands.
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