Hon. Rudyard Spencer, Minister of Health officially reopened the Waterford Health Centre in Portmore yesterday (Thursday, August 25). The health facility was renovated at a cost of $873,000. “The disease profile of the country has changed significantly in the last two decades. We must, very quickly, improve the offerings at the Primary health Care level in order to appropriately address the health needs of the population,” said Minister Spencer.

According to the Minister the community of Portmore has seen an increase in health centre utilization moving from 55,394 in 2009 to 59,056 in 2010. “This is an encouraging sign as we want more persons to utilize services that are closer to communities instead of overloading our hospitals with cases that can be dealt with at the community level,” he said.

The work that was carried out at the facility include grill work, rehabilitation of lunch room, total rehabilitation of the kitchen, tiling of the entire facility, installation of two lavatory basins and expansion of the bathroom.

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