Trevor McCartney urges stronger primary health care investment in Jamaica

Professor Trevor McCartney is calling for Jamaica to place greater investment in primary health care, arguing that stronger community services would help prevent illness, reduce overcrowding at hospitals and improve the quality of care available to patients.

McCartney, chairman of the Caribbean Authority for Accreditation of Medical Education and Other Health Professions, made the appeal at the Medical Association Annual Awards Banquet, where he also pointed to the Caribbean's progress in training medical specialists.

He said accreditation and quality assurance remain important as health professionals move more freely across the region. McCartney noted that many foreign doctors practising in the Caribbean were not trained through traditional regional institutions such as the University of Guyana, but through offshore schools and institutions in places including China, Russia, Europe, Mexico and Cuba.

According to him, that reality created a need for systems to reassure the public that doctors entering the health service met appropriate standards. He said he developed an examination intended to help confirm that the care being delivered by those professionals was in line with the level of training they had received.

McCartney said the public debate often focuses on hospital problems, including long waits, shortages of equipment and supply challenges. However, he argued that more attention should be placed on stopping people from reaching that stage in the first place.

He said primary care "does not make the headlines", even though community clinics and their workers continue to do important work. McCartney also referred to research by Dr Dennis Gordon and a US$150 million programme linked to supporting primary care.

He said visits to clinics in Chapelton and Shanna Bush showed him that residents valued the service being provided. McCartney said the response from the public strengthened his view that a significant part of the health sector's focus should shift toward community-based care.