Residents of Old Harbour in St Catherine are set to benefit from significantly improved and expanded healthcare services with the construction of a new comprehensive health centre in the town. Ground was officially broken for this new facility by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, through the Health Systems Strengthening Programme (HSSP).

The Old Harbour Comprehensive Health Centre, a 2000-square-metre state-of-the-art facility that will serve approximately 10,000 people per month, will be located on East Street in Old Harbour. This will replace the current Old Harbour Health Centre, a type 3 facility that serves over 17,000 residents annually but is hindered by space constraints.

The new comprehensive health centre will offer a wide range of primary healthcare services, including specialist clinics, and critical services such as pharmacy, laboratory, ECG, phlebotomy, X-ray, physiotherapy, and screenings for ophthalmology and audiometry. In response to the growing demand for healthcare in the area, the new centre will also house dedicated sections for dentistry, mental health, and maternal and child health.

The centre is expected to significantly enhance the Old Harbour’s ability to manage chronic illnesses and improve overall public health outcomes as the fastest growing Town in the country. This will also enhance operations at the Spanish Town and May Pen Hospitals, as residents can now access more non-emergency services closer to home.

The new facility is being built at a cost of approximately JMD 930 million, which includes the cost of construction, medical equipment, furniture, and an on-site wastewater treatment plant. The health centre will also benefit from additional investments under the HSSP, such as the implementation of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) system and the Chronic Care Model (CCM), managed network services, and staff trainings for seamless change management.

The construction, which is expected to be completed by early 2026, is expected to provide employment for up to 200 persons, directly and indirectly, during the development phase, with an expanded team of medical and support staff once the facility becomes operational.

This project is part of the wider HSSP initiative, which was launched in 2018 with the aim of strengthening Jamaica’s healthcare system in the prevention and care management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The HSSP is supported by a US $50 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), alongside an additional US $87 million in funding from the Government of Jamaica and a US $10 million grant from the European Union (EU). This facility is primarily funded by the European Union investment grant.

The Old Harbour Comprehensive Health Centre is one of 13 facilities in central Jamaica benefiting from this programme, which is expected to transform the country’s health sector by 2029.