Jamaica: Free healthcare model to be supported for another year

A survey conducted in 2010 revealed that at the time, over 25 percent of Jamaica’s doctors wanted an end to the free healthcare system that was implemented by the then Jamaica Labor Party administration under former prime minister Bruce Golding.

The People’s National Party (PNP) administration of Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller has revealed that the free healthcare model will be sustained for another year.

The island-nation’s health minister Fenton Ferguson, (who has been actively promoting a review of the free healthcare model since taking office in January 2012, claiming that it was too costly to sustain), announced Tuesday that it would be maintained for, at least, another year.

The implications of reforming or abolishing the free healthcare model while freeing up revenue for the government may negatively impact many of the country’s citizens. In 2007, a survey conducted by the Bruce Golding administration found that 34 percent of Jamaicans could not afford user fees in healthcare.

Jamaica is in the process of expanding and improving its healthcare offerings – last year, Industry Minister announced that the administration was in the process of developing a health tourism sector that would generate revenue, greatly improve healthcare and create jobs.

It is hoped that revenues from health tourism will help sustain the free healthcare model provided to Jamaican citizens.