Press Release From The PNP - November 5, 2026
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| Dr Alfred Dawes, Opposition Spokesman on Health and Wellness. |
Kingston, Jamaica. November 5, 2026: Jamaica has more than tripled its public health budget since 2016/17, but a World Bank review covering 2016 to 2022 found maternal mortality higher than 30 years ago and neonatal mortality higher than when the Government took office, Opposition Spokesman on Health and Wellness Dr Alfred Dawes said.
The public health budget was $60.15 billion in 2016/17. This year the Ministry of Health and Wellness has an allocation of more than $200 billion. The review found chronic diseases cause close to 80 per cent of deaths, too many patients arrive at hospital with advanced disease, medicine costs have risen rapidly, health centres need more doctors and nurses, and service level agreements with regional health authorities are not being used to hold the system accountable.
“The budget has more than tripled, yet the World Bank review finds mothers and newborns still dying at rates that are too high, cancers and chronic diseases rising, and patients reaching hospital too late for cheaper treatment,” Dr Dawes said. “This is a priority problem, not a money problem.”
Dr Dawes called for spending to be reset around four priorities: fund primary care so health centres are open, staffed and stocked; train, retain and deploy doctors, nurses and technicians; buy and maintain public hospital equipment; and enforce service level agreements with quarterly published data on wait times, equipment downtime, staff vacancies and drug availability.
“Jamaicans have paid for a better health system. The World Bank review shows they have not received it,” Dr Dawes said. “Start with the mother in the labour ward and the patient on the waiting list.”
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