Hospitals in Jamaica - What Jamaican Tourists Should Know

In any country there has to be proper health carethis network; five of the hospitals are national referral
facilities to take care of the needs of its people andor specialist facilities.
visitors. On the island there are numerous centers,The estimated bed capacity in this region is 2,755 and
hospitals and services, both public and private. Hospitalsthey served nearly 1.7 million persons. In addition they
in Jamaica are both public and privately owned andget referrals from the other Caribbean islands from
one can be found in any of the fourteen parishes.time to time.
The Ministry of Health is the government body that isNext, there is the Western Regional Health Authority
responsible for monitoring, formulating, implementing andwhich encompasses the parishes of St. James,
administering policies in the health care.Trelawny, Westmoreland and Hanover. There are four
This ministry has direct responsibility for all publichospitals and eighty-two health centers in this region.
facilities which includes the hospitals. In the earlier partThey provide services for approximately 0.45 million of
of the 80's it was estimated that there werethe population and has a bed capacity of six hundred
twenty-two general hospitals that were providing forand eleven. The Cornwall Regional is the chief of the
both outpatient and inpatient persons.four hospitals in this region and handles most of the
From that total there were seven hospitals thatserious cases.
provided specialized services which included one ofThen we have the North East Regional Health
each for pediatrics, maternity, cardiothoracic andAuthority which covers the parishes of St. Ann, St.
tuberculosis surgery, mental disorders, physicalMary and Portland.
rehabilitation, leprosy and terminal care.There are four hospitals with a total of four hundred
The major hospitals that are publicly owned are theand six beds and eighty-two health centers. This region
University Hospital at Mona, Kingston Public, Mandevilleserves about 0.35 million people in these health facilities.
and the Cornwall Regional in Montego Bay. They areThe final area is the Southern Regional Health
all governed by partly self-governing regionalAuthority which serves the parishes of Clarendon, St.
administration boards.Elizabeth and Manchester.
When you compare Jamaica to the other islands in theThere is the total of 536 beds in the five hospitals and
Commonwealth they have a ratio of beds in theninety-four health centers. This region provide health
hospitals that are somewhat low for the population.care for almost 0.54 million people.
The last estimation was carried out in 1985 and thatThere is one public hospital that somewhat different in
showed that there were 5,700 beds that werethe service that it provides; this is the University
provided for in the public hospitals.Hospital of the West Indies.
At this time also the private hospitals on the island wasThey have teaching facilities and have total of 494
only six and provided 300 beds. However, based onbeds, providing services in surgery, community health,
the number of years since then this figure could bepediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, general and
significantly higher for both the public and privatepsychiatry services.
institutions.Jamaican hospitals whether public or private can take
Hospitals in Jamaica all fall under four different regions,care of most health conditions that will occur on the
there is the South East Regional Health Authorityisland. The differences with the private institutions are
which covers the parishes of Kingston and St.that they are usually expensive, service oriented, small
Andrew, St. Catherine and St. Thomas. There are tenand most times associated with religious corporations.
hospitals and eighty-nine health centers that fall under