Campbell THE ELECTORAL Office of Jamaica (EOJ) is to undertake the registration of beneficiaries under the much-touted National Health Fund (NHF) over the next two years, at a cost of $45 million.
Roughly 750,000 Jamaicans will be registered, at a cost of $60 per person and a one-time cost of $45,000 for data base creation, Information Minister, Colin Campbell, told journalists at yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
He said Cabinet had given its approval for the EOJ to carry out the exercise to be funded through a loan from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). Mr. Campbell explained that the Benefit Registration Module (BRM) is one of the three interfacing system modules of the information system used by the Fund, and is the module through which the data required to register beneficiaries is acquired, validated and recorded.
The Information Minister said the EOJ was the only local organisation with existing machinery capable of carrying out such an exercise and that its strategically-located registration centres would allow for registration to begin in the shortest possible time.
"The contract was therefore awarded using the sole source method and was approved by the National Contracts Committee," Mr. Campbell explained.
He could not state when the Fund would be in place, but Health Minister, John Junor, is expected to speak to the issue when he makes his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives today.
Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Junor said that the Fund would be in place by August despite several setbacks. He said then that discussions were taking place with various stakeholders about methods of raising the requisite resources and how it would be administered.
Among the options already discussed are a levy on tobacco and an increase in the ceiling of NIS contributions. These are tied to a proposal which would also see an increase in pensions for contributors.
The Health Fund is to allow Jamaicans easier access to less costly health care and will benefit persons suffering from 12 chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, cancer, cardio-vascular diseases and glaucoma.
Chronic lifestyle diseases account for 60 per cent of Government's medical bill, costing $1.4 billion in 1999 alone.
