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