There’s so much news around at the moment that makes you want to groan and hold your head in pain (the revived, reverberating PetroJam scandal, for one – not to mention the police lockups) that it’s hard to be JOLLY as the Christmas songs tell us we should be at this time of year.
Nevertheless, here’s a story with some positivity to it! A million thanks to the Japanese Government…
May Pen Hospital to enhance orthopaedic care
Kingston, Jamaica. 6 December 2018. The May Pen Hospital in Clarendon is shortly to have the benefit of a key piece of medical equipment that is to enhance orthopaedic care at the facility.
This is thanks to the generosity of the Government of Japan which – through the Embassy of Japan in Jamaica – on Thursday (December 6) signed the grant agreement with the Government of Jamaica, through the Ministry of Health, for the purchase of a Mobile Digital C-Arm, valued at JMD 10 million (USD 86,780).
A mobile C-arm is a medical imaging device based on X-ray technology that can be used flexibly in various operating rooms within a clinic. The name is derived from the C-shaped arm used to connect the X-ray source and X-ray detector to one another.
“Having the machine at May Pen Hospital will reduce the cost to transfer or have patients remain in hospital for weeks until available surgical time at a hospital with a C-arm; reduce time lost from work/loss of income for the patient; reduce morbidity of illness that a delay in having surgery will cause; and reduce the time for hospitalisation & the waiting list for surgery,” noted Minister Tufton.
Orthopaedic surgery, meanwhile, is a new service offered at the hospital in 2017, with an out-patient clinic since February 6, 2017, and in-patient service commencing August 2, 2017. The Outpatient Department visits have increased significantly since February 2017, when it started with 8 patients per clinic, to as much as 105 patients seen in a clinic. Average out-patient visits number over 300 patients per month with in-patient admissions/referrals averaging 60 patients per month.
Between Feb 6, 2017, and the end of May this year, there have been more than 3,600 clinic visits to the Orthopaedic Clinic.
Ambassador of Japan to Jamaica, Hiromasa Yamazaki said, meanwhile, that the Government and people of Japan were pleased to support the Government and people of Jamaica under their Grassroots Human Security Projects.
“I am pleased to note that this is the first collaboration between the Embassy of Japan and the May Pen Hospital and it is my greatest hope that this new human security project will primarily serve the needs of everyone for orthopaedic surgery,” he noted.
“Our commitment to assisting in improving the health sector needs of Jamaica continues to be a core priority for the people and Government of Japan and so, as a responsible member of the global community, we wholeheartedly support our latest medical cooperation with the May Pen Hospital to serve the needs of the people of Jamaica,” the ambassador added.
