Caribbean News
PM’s wife says ‘Every Jamaican Deserves Good Healthcare’
#Jamaica, March 27, 2018 – Montego Bay – Wife of the Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Juliet Holness, says every Jamaican deserves good healthcare and should have access to first-rate health facilities.
Speaking at the opening of the renovated Paediatric Ward at the St. Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital in St. Ann on March 22, Mrs. Holness said it is against that background that it is so commendable that the North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) and the Issa Trust Foundation have joined together “to produce a world-class facility” for children.
“This phenomenal team has put together a world-class facility to ease the pain of children. You don’t find this kind of effort happening every day, which reinforces even more the need to appreciate this kind of love that has been meted out to our children and their parents,” she said.
In July 2010, the Issa Trust Foundation commenced a partnership with NERHA by launching the Paediatric Rotation and Paediatric Nursing Education programmes. Under these initiatives, significant investments were made by the Foundation in ensuring the training of select clinical staff across the region.
Today, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is equipped with 10 infant warmers; eight incubators, two of which are transportable; and eight ventilators.
“The Foundation team has also provided ongoing training and support to the unit and visits the hospital several times a year with needed equipment, pharmaceuticals, sundries and supplies and does ongoing training to sustain this critical partnership,” Mrs. Holness noted.
She said there is hardly any better way to show love than to do something meaningful for children, adding that “this is the first step” in nation building.
“The idea is for us to nurture the children, so they can become better Jamaican adults. We owe it to them by doing everything we can to give them that opportunity, and this is what the Foundation family has done with the renovations that took place at the Paedriatic Ward,” Mrs. Holness said.
For his part, Chairman of the Foundation, Paul Issa, said his organisation, having forged an agreement with internationally renowned musical group, Air Supply, to be their Brand Ambassadors for Jamaica, hosted a successful fundraising concert in June 2017 on the grounds of the Couples San Souci Hotel in St. Ann, where $20 million was raised.
“The Foundation has used the proceeds from this event to renovate the St. Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital’s Paediatric Ward at a cost of $34 million,” he noted.
Release: JIS
Imagine an Atlantic Bridge connecting the Caribbean Region to the African Continent
Deandrea Hamilton | Editor
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — When CARICOM leaders convened with African counterparts and Afreximbank officials in Ethiopia, the outcomes were savory and exactly what many Caribbean people want to see materialise as the islands become uniquely reconnected to the African continent.
At the Second CARICOM-Africa Summit, held at the African Union headquarters, leaders moved beyond symbolic language to agree on a draft communiqué that, if finalized, would anchor this partnership in practical action. While not yet officially published by the AU or CARICOM, the document points to an agenda that blends history with urgent twenty-first century priorities.
The draft outlines commitments to improve air and sea transport links, including the pursuit of a multilateral air services agreement to break down the barriers that still keep the Caribbean and Africa physically apart. It also calls for visa facilitation and simplified entry regimes, making it easier for citizens of both regions to travel, study, and work across the Atlantic.
Equally significant are pledges to advance double taxation treaties that could remove one of the most stubborn obstacles to investment.
With Afreximbank’s Caribbean headquarters already established in Barbados and the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) gaining momentum, leaders now want to lock in the financial and legal frameworks that will drive new business.
Reparatory justice also featured prominently, with the draft communiqué sharpening a joint call for coordinated advocacy. CARICOM’s long-standing Reparations Commission is expected to work more closely with African institutions to demand global recognition and redress for the shared traumas of slavery and colonial exploitation.
CARICOM’s incoming chair, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew of St. Kitts and Nevis, captured the spirit of the gathering when he urged that the Atlantic Slave Trade be reimagined as an “Atlantic Bridge — a bridge of hope, a bridge of advancement, a bridge that will ensure our people take their rightful place in this world.”
For Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett, the meeting was a “homecoming,” but also a reminder that concrete steps like the Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Caribbean (HeDPAC) and improved transportation links are needed to transform rhetoric into results.
For citizens back home, wrestling with inflation and economic uncertainty, the Addis outcomes — transport, visas, investment, health, and reparations — are precisely the kinds of measures that can validate leaders’ journeys and rekindle faith in South-South cooperation. What was once only rhetoric now hints at the beams of an Atlantic Bridge, connecting the Caribbean and Africa in ways that could finally turn history’s tragedy into tomorrow’s advantage.
