THIS PAST Sunday, a state-of-the-art facility to train nurses was opened, with appropriate ceremony, at the campus of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, south central Jamaica.

The speeches and other public comment about the building has focused on two things. The first is the importance of this facility in the context of a nurses shortage in Jamaica, to the point where the country has had to 'import' foreigners to serve in the health system, even as Jamaican nurses head for North America, because of better pay.

Indeed, there are about 2,000 registered nurses (RNs) employed in Jamaica's public-health system. Officials say that more than twice that number are needed. The new institution at NCU, which already has a bachelor's programme in nursing, will graduate 250 RNs in two years time.

Billionaire entrepreneur

The second point of note about the facility at NCU is that it is largely the result of the philanthropy of Michael Lee Chin, the Jamaican/Canadian billionaire entrepreneur, whose businesses include Jamaica's National Commercial Bank.

Indeed, the NCU nursing institution is known as the Hyacinth Gloria Chen School of Nursing, named in honour of Mr Lee Chin's mother. Such philanthropic gestures are not new to Mr Lee Chin, who, for instance, earlier in the decade, donated Cdn$30 million to a Toronto museum, where his mother is also recognised.

Which brings us to the point made by Dr Witford Reid, an NCU alumnus, when he spoke separately at that institution's commencement last week. He proposed, as we have suggested in these columns before, that Jamaica's tax laws be adjusted to allow for tax-breaks on philanthropic giving.

Indeed, in Canada or the United States, Mr Lee Chin could have expected to get tax credits against his hefty contribution to the NCU. Such tax breaks, Dr Reid suggested, contributed in no small measure to the US$306 billion Americans made in charitable donations made last year. He expects a similar thing would happen here.

Good rewards for Jamaica

Said Dr Reid, "This will reap a whirlwind of good for the Jamaican people. Institutions such as universities, colleges, primary and high schools and hospitals would benefit." We agree!

From a government, we suspect the fear would be the loss of tax revenue in the context of its tight fiscal circumstance. But the administration need not worry if it considers the bigger picture.

The greater likelihood is that any tax losses to the Government because of the concessions will be more than compensated for by both the short and long-term benefits to the institutions and to the wider economy.

Indeed, schools, universities, hospitals and other institutions now perform below par because they are short of resources, which the Government can ill-afford to provide. It makes sense to encourage private contribution to help overcome these problems.

A better-funded school with better equipment should produce a better-educated student, who will be a more efficient and productive worker. Greater productivity leads to economic efficiency, which translates to competitiveness and growth and wealth creation, which leads to employment.

And people with jobs are less likely to engage in antisocial behaviour. Jamaica, in the process, wins all round.