- Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
Persons discussing among themselves at the Jamaican Diaspora Conference last week at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.
JAMAICANS LIVING in the United Kingdom (UK) have asked the Government to lobby the UK administration for a transfer of the health benefits of returning residents to Jamaica.
"There are a lot of Jamaicans returning here who need medical help and we would like the Government to lobby for a transfer of the benefits we have paid for all our years in the UK to help with the health of the returning residents in Jamaica," said Ethlyn Lynch, a Jamaican living in the UK.
She was speaking in one of the discussion sessions held as part of the Jamaican Diaspora Conference last week at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston. Health Minister, John Junor said that the Government has, over the years, made representation for the transfer of the health benefits of returning residents and "at each stage, we get a resounding no from the British government."
NOT PREPARED
"They are not prepared to allow the national health benefits to be transferable and my advice to the Jamaicans in the UK is to intensify lobbying efforts through your Members of Parliament and respective City Councils in getting them to recognise that this is a great need on the part of people who have served their country...but who have decided to live elsewhere." He however assured that the Jamaican government would continue its lobbying efforts.
Barbara Legister, a Jamaican attorney practising and living in the UK, said that the issue of adequate health care was a major deterrent to overseas nationals returning to Jamaica and asked whether the returning residents could be part of an existing health programme, such as the recently launched National Insurance Scheme's NiGold Plan. "We are quite willing to contribute to it," she stated.
Meanwhile, Andrea Wilkey, President of the Canadian Friends of St. Thomas Vision Care Programme expressed a desire to contribute to the health care sector and asked the Health Minister to inform the group of the country's needs in terms of equipment or services. "We want to know what you want; what we can do in terms of equipment or anything that the hospitals need to make them better," she stated. Minister Junor welcomed the initiative, but said that persons donating equipment should first contact the Ministry because hospitals might not have the expertise to fix certain equipment, replace parts and some might not fit hospital specifications.
Addressing concerns about HIV/AIDS the Health Minister informed that the government had accessed US $23 million from the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis over the next five years, to assist in providing anti retrovirals for persons suffering from the disease in Jamaica. In addition, the government has received US$15 million from the World Bank to upgrade laboratory facilities and provide counselling.
Jamaica Information Service
