Business View Caribbean October/November 2018

30 31 SOUTHERN REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITY parishes. It provides management for the 76 health centers and clinics of the region, while also managing six hospitals, over 600 beds, and approximately 3,000 employees. The authority is overseen by a Board of Directors comprised of 15 members appointed by the Ministry of Health; its Chief Executive Officer is the Regional Director (RD), who reports directly to the Chairman of the Board. Healthcare in Jamaica is free to all citizens and legal residents at government hospitals and clin- ics.While there is some private health insurance that some citizens opt to pay for, it only accounts for less than one percent of the country’s overall healthcare budget. Recently, Business View Caribbean spoke with the SRHA’s Regional Director, Michael Bent, to obtain some information about the Authority and its day-to-day operations. Also included in the discussion were Regional Technical Director, Dr. Vitillius Holder, Director of Finance, Andrew Sin- clair, Human Resources Director, Nicolette Thom- as-Edwards, Director of Management Information Systems, Rohan Smith, Procurement Manager, Stacy-Ann Henry Edwards, Director of Operations and Maintenance, Mrs. Herschel Ismail, and Ad- ministration Manager, Janet Sloley. According to Bent, the most serious health concerns in Jamaica, today, are non-communica- ble diseases (NDCs). “Those are the ones most troubling to us right now,” he explains. “There are a lot of social lifestyle and behaviors that are leading to these illnesses. However, in recent times, for about the last two or so years, there have been strategic and concentrated efforts to tackle non-communicable diseases. The Minister of Health officially launched an initiative about a year or so ago called ‘Jamaica Moves.’ This is a mission to get the population active in terms of exercise, to get people moving, and to make some lifestyle changes in terms of their diet and their day to day functions.” The healthcare sector in the Caribbean has always been plagued by complaints of long hos- pital waiting times, curt and uncaring treatment by the hospital/clinic staff and medical teams, the overall lack of interest in providing basic health- care information for the visitor, and the lack of procedures and services along with the technol- ogy and equipment to provide those procedures. It is complaints like these which have caused the Southern Health Regional Authority to be relent- less in its attempts to create a better medical experience for its citizens, especially as its budget is tight and the needs, plenty. In recent years the SHRA has implemented more technology and added many new services and medical procedures, including, but not lim- ited to: extensive dialysis services, ENT (ear nose and throat) doctors and services, oncology, phar- macy, orthopedics, urology, and physiotherapy. It has also optimized and upgraded its technology to perform strategic laparoscopic surgeries in three of its hospitals. However, technology, procedures, and facilities, are just part of the improvement experience. Bent and his team express the importance of excellent customer service to all of those visiting the clin- ics and hospitals of the region - a priority that the Authority has accelerated over time in order to ensure that Jamaicans are treated with the high- est quality of care possible. Thus, SHRA is soon With over 200 patients seen daily and over 36,000 proceedures done annually, the Mandeville Regional Hospital’s Radiology Department is now better equipped to provide diagnostic services with the acquisition of an X-Ray machine valued at $19, 599,000, donated by the Chase Fund in 2016. Radiographer at the Mandeville Regional Hospital Mr Michael Thomas operates the X-Ray Machine while members of the SRHA look on.  The Mandeville Regional Hospital, Type B facility located at 32 Hargreaves Avenue, Mandeville-Manchester.