Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

WITH TWO weeks to go before the abolition of user fees, the Ministry of Health and Environment on Sunday advertised for health-care workers to fill posts in public facilities across the island.

In an advertisement in The Sunday Gleaner, the ministry said it was looking to recruit pharmacists, enrolled assistant nurses, medical records officer, doctors, medical technologists, registered midwives, community nurses, registered nurses and pharmacy technicians.

The Jamaica Labour Party, in its election campaign last year, promised to abolish the fees if it were to win the September 3 general election. The abolition of fees is to take effect on April 1.

Additional resources

"We have to beef up the system (for the implementation of the abolition of user fees)," Dr Sheila Campbell-Forrester, chief medical officer of health, told The Gleaner on Monday.

Campbell-Forrester said the ministry was aware that there is a shortage of nursing staff and other workers in the health-care system.

"If we are going to abolish user fees, we will need to put in additional resources," said Campbell-Forrester.

She was unable to say how many health-care workers were being recruited, but noted that the ministry intends to recruit most of them before April 1.

Health Minister Rudyard Spencer said last week that the ministry was on target for the April 1 roll out of the abolition of health fees.

"Failure is not an option," Spencer said.

"It is not a matter of 'if it can be done' - it simply must be done," he said at a meeting with the Medical Association of Jamaica president, Dr Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe.

He added: "I have no doubt there will be some hiccups, but this will present us with a golden oppor-tunity to see all the strengths and weaknesses fully exposed, and an opportunity to address the issues as they arise."

User charges will be removed from public facilities, except the University Hospital of the West Indies.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com