Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson says a health needs assessment is to be done for the communities served by the Greater Portmore Health Centre.

The Minister was speaking during a tour of the facility today.

He said he will be looking at the possibility of engaging a consultant to carry out this work for the health centre as well as other facilities in St. Catherine.

“We want to have a reasonable option for patients at the health centre level so that we can relieve the pressure from the hospitals. We want to use the 2013/2014 financial year for planning and design as well as the needs assessment consultancy so that for 2014/2015 we can be ready to go. A major priority of this Administration is primary health care and we are starting with the four Centres of Excellence,” he said.

In the meantime, Dr. Ferguson announced that work will soon be done on the health centre to improve the facility. The work he says includes fencing, painting and tiling.

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