NewzSPALDING, CLARENDON — A donation of critical equipment valued at $60 million and plans to digitise the medical records of patients have provided a well-needed shot in the arm for the Type C Percy Junor Hospital located on the border of Manchester and Clarendon which also serves people in parts of south St Ann and south Trelawny. The donation was made to the hospital last Friday by Diaspora group Right Now For Jamaica, which has adopted the facility. President of Right Now For Jamaica Dr Maurice Miles said the organisation was formed in the aftermath of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica last October, to raise funds to assist facilities in the country.
“A group of us decided that we wanted to do something… We wanted to be very specific and detailed. I called Ambassador [Audrey] Marks [Member of Parliament for Manchester North Eastern] and asked how we can help and she said that we need help in Jamaica, specifically, at the hospital. It turns out we are heavy on health and education.
In November we took our first trip and assessed the hospital,” said Mills. Three of four containers donated by Right Now For Jamaica are located at the Percy Junor Hospital (Kasey Williams) “We decided to not just give gloves and gauze but rather to see what the hospital needs to give better care to function,” Miles added. In welcoming the donation Marks said the gift of four containers filled with equipment including ventilators, automatic external defibrillators, hospital beds, IV poles, and recliners is the second handing over of well-needed supplies to the hospital by Right Now For Jamaica.
“When we invest in Percy Junor Hospital we are strengthening a critical part of the health-care network [that is] serving hundreds of thousands Jamaicans across central Jamaica. The first handover in January brought 15 computers, tablets, medical supplies, furniture and other essential items. At that time we identified some of the larger clinical equipment that you wanted to secure, including ventilators,” said Marks.
She announced that the group has also committed $30 million towards an outpatient clinic on the hospital grounds by converting the containers now storing the donated equipment. “The proposed facility is designed to include eight fully equipped examination rooms, a triage capacity, procedural and surgical care, office space and patient recovery bays supporting pri…
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