The Ministry of Health has rolled out a new initiative to improve the accessibility of medication by persons who access health care at public-health facilities islandwide.

Persons with prescriptions from public facilities will be allowed ease of access to medication at no cost for items on the vital essential and necessary (VEN) drugs list, through the introduction of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) Health Card.

The VEN list consists of over 170 medications and recommendations are being made for other drugs to be added.

Speaking at the launch of the GOJ health card at The Pegasus hotel yesterday, Howard Lynch, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, said the initiative comes at a time when there is an increase in the demand for pharmaceuticals at the public-health facilities.

"We aim to bring improved benefits to the people of Jamaica, including a more improved and timely supply of drugs, improved management of the drugs supply in the public sector and an increase in the human resource capacity in the area of pharmacy," said Lynch.

Pharmacy technicians needed

As for human resources, Reid said the ministry was in constant dialogue with the University of Technology so that it could recruit graduates to be employed in the public service.

The ministry is also in the process of training pharmacy technicians to ease the burden on the pharmacists.

This was undertaken with the help of a $100-million grant from the National Health Fund.

He further stated that through the card the ministry will be able to keep abreast of the quantities and types of drugs being dispensed.

The overall cost of the project for a three-year-period is $2 billion. The service will be available at public-sector pharmacies and some private pharmacies through a partnership that the Ministry of Health is currently working on.

All Jamaican residents are eligible to register for the card starting September 1 at the public facilities. The card will become a requirement to access prescription drugs from public-sector health-care institutions come February 1 next year.