By Judana Murphy
KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – The Jamaica-Cuba Eye Care Programme will continue, despite the conclusion of the technical cooperation agreement between the government of Jamaica and the government of Cuba.
The assurance was given by minister of health and wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, during a hybrid press briefing March 9. He said that the ministry understands and fully appreciates the benefits of the programme, which operates at the St Joseph’s hospital and is supported by 18 Cuban healthcare workers.
“We know many Jamaicans have benefited from this, and it has been driven primarily by this agreement involving the Cuban workers. The intention is not to discontinue the programme. The intention is to work with the existing team up to the point when they may discontinue or continue, depending on where the discussions lead and beyond that, to find alternative ways to continue the work, because it’s a very critical programme,” he said.
Dr Tufton advised that the Cuban team will continue procedures until March 20, with services limited to surgery and post-operative care.
“What this means is that surgical procedures for patients who are already scheduled and follow-up care for patients who have already undergone eye surgery and retina-related post-operative treatment and monitoring … those procedures will take place,” Dr Tufton said.
The minister shared that approximately 140 people are scheduled to undergo surgery; urged patients who have benefited from surgeries to attend their scheduled follow-up appointments to ensure proper recovery and continued care.
“In the meantime, we are working on alternative arrangements to ensure the continuity of the screening programme through a combination of our internal capacity, as well as through some outsourcing arrangements, and we’ve got the cabinet’s agreement on that… in the sense that it has a budgetary implication, meaning engaging the private sector,” he explained.
