Damion Mitchell, News Coordinator

Amy McFarlane, secretary of the Returned Residents' Association of Manchester, believes there remains an abundance of talent in the island. - Norman Grindley /Deputy Chief Photographer

Amy McFarlane is a patriotic Jamaican.

Fifty-two years ago she left her hometown in Springfield, St. Elizabeth, in search of a better life in the 'motherland'.

There she worked for more than 30 years in the health service, gave birth to a child and married the man who had become her best friend.

After three decades of toil, trials and triumph, Mrs. McFarlane returned to Jamaica to resettle in 1993, and she is insisting that despite the challenges in this country, it remains that sweet place she has long called home.

"Don't belittle my Jamaica," Mrs. McFarlane charged, while speaking at a Gleaner Editors Forum in Mandeville, Manchester.

She believes there remains an abundance of talent in the island, especially in the health service with which she still associates. Mrs. McFarlane, who is also the secretary of the Returned Residents Association of Mandeville, says while she was working in the United Kingdom, her fellow Jamaican nurses were repeatedly commended for their proficiency. "So let me tell you something, please do not carry down your health service here!"

Student nurses' knowledge

Just over two years ago, Mrs. McFarlane lectured nurses in training at Knox Community College in Manchester, and she says she was impressed with the level of discipline and knowledge that they brought to the practice.

Referring to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, Mrs. McFarlane said over time it has become less efficient. "I am told that now it takes up to six months to have an operation in England."

Jasmine Pottinger, the president of the Central Manchester Returned Residents' Association, agreed. "Some of our returning residents who go (back) to England for health services have to pay because the wait is so long to get care," she said.

They were responding to one of their colleague returned residents, David Fyffe, who claimed that in as much as the British health care system has slightly deteriorated, it's still more advanced than that of Jamaica.

However, the women say the comparison is unfair, given that the United Kingdom is a more developed country with significantly more resources at its disposal.