Health Ministry expands family caregiver scheme as Spanish Town Hospital joins

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has brought Spanish Town Hospital into its family caregiver programme, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said on Friday, July 17, 2026.

Tufton said the scheme brings relatives into bedside support so families share the work of care without weakening clinical standards or hospital routines. “Health is everybody’s business and the administration of health should be everybody’s business,” he said, urging kin and guardians to take part even without formal medical training.

The pilot at Bustamante Hospital for Children has registered 1,053 caregivers under set dress, conduct and orientation rules, with support given to more than 737 patients. Tufton wants at least six more public hospitals to join during this financial year.

Separately, 20 unions and professional groups in the public health sector have endorsed the ministry’s accountability framework after talks on governance, service quality and performance. Tufton called the mood constructive and said a tripartite approach with labour could lift standards and cut complaints.

In tourism, a twice-weekly year-round Liát Air link from Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, to Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay began on Tuesday and Saturday schedules. The first flight carried 33 passengers, with daily service eyed if demand rises. State Minister for Tourism Tova Hamilton said the route opens the French Caribbean and Europe and fits Tourism 3.0, which aims to keep more visitor spending with Jamaican workers and suppliers.

Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency Director General Colonel Desmond Edwards, speaking at the Jamaica Institute of Financial Services antifraud seminar, urged banks, regulators and police to treat fraud intelligence as a shared asset through timely, practical cooperation at home and across the region.

Seventy-three cocoa growers in Clarendon and St. Mary earned RADA Farmer Field School certificates after an eight-week course on frosty pod rot, covering grafting, nutrition, pesticide use and land care. Agriculture Minister Floyd Green, at a Stony Hill, St. Andrew graduation, reported an 82 per cent drop in disease prevalence and a 70 per cent rise in pod output — 91 per cent disease cut among active growers — and said a revolving loan for tools such as pruners and mist blowers is planned. Graduates received kits with herbicide, fungicide, a machete, reaping hook, file, spreader sticker, adhesive and a 45-gallon drum.

Thirty-two top 2026 Primary Exit Profile performers won state scholarships, including the Marcus Garvey, Jag Smith, George William Gordon and Paul Bogle awards, with placements at schools such as Campion College, Wolmer’s Boys’, Immaculate Conception High, Glenmuir High and Manchester High. The leading boy and girl also gained Guardian Group Foundation support for five years of secondary school, with further awards from groups including the Jamaica Teachers Association, Massy Gas Products Limited, Petrojam, Seprod, Jamaica Energy Partners, Lasco and Alva B. Johnson.

The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs will hold a free virtual Legal Zoom Room consultation on Monday, July 20, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. to noon (Zoom ID 870667613; 888-JUSTICE; moj.gov.jm).

Independence events for Jamaica’s 64th anniversary under the theme “United in celebrating resilience” include the 60th Jamaica Festival Song Competition, with results due July 25, Culture Minister Olivia Grange said.