Hinds

With Portmore being the largest residential community in Jamaica, (the Statistical Institute of Jamaica's 2001 census recorded 156,469 people, and the population has grown much more since then), and with nearly half of that 2001 total being women (84,180), not having a hospital in the community is a potentially hazardous situation for the residents.

Portmore began in the late 1960s as a residential development when the West Indies Home Contractors (WIHCON) built thousands of prototype housing units in an effort to alleviate the over-population of Kingston. Today, with its fast-growing population, it is inconceivable that there isn't a hospital in the area. Residents have to seek public health care in case of an emergency at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) or the Spanish Town Hospital. There are approximately five health centres in the community.

At a recent Flair forum with five women representing different professions and residing in Portmore, one of the major issues they cited was the lack of a hospital and proper health care in Portmore.

Serious concern

Like these women, Shawntell Melbourn is concerned about her well-being, living in a community without a hospital and the closest being some distance away.

Melbourn has been living in Hellshire, Portmore for the past two years with her husband and new baby.

She says she has always feared what would happen if any of her family members should become ill in the wee hours of the morning, and the closest hospital would be KPH.

"By the time we drive all the way to KPH or even Spanish Town Hospital, I am afraid it could be detrimental," she said.

She expresses her great concern that if such a situation were to occur, it would take proper planning to alleviate it. "You could not just hop in the car and head out for KPH, you would have had to remember to grab the toll money," she says.

Melbourn says, when she was pregnant, she worried a lot that if she were to go into labour in the early morning, she would have had to drive all the way from Hellshire to KPH which could take as long as half an hour. But she says thankfully, she opted for a scheduled Caesarean section so that problem was alleviated.

But for many other women, many of whom are single mothers without the help of a partner in such a situation, it might not have worked out quite the same.

Simone Allen, who has lived in the Passage Fort area for 21 years, is also disgruntled about not having a hospital in Portmore. She says recently, someone in her household got a seizure and she had to drive the person all the way to Spanish Town Hospital for treatment. "It took us about 25 minutes to drive to the hospital whereas if there was a hospital in Portmore, we would have reached in 10 to 15 minutes," says Allen. Thankfully, she reached the hospital before anything catastrophic happened; however, the next time they might not be so lucky.

A long wait

She told Flair that; for the past five years she has heard talks of a hospital coming to Portmore but to this day it has not come to past. She says she it is very important that hospital be built in the community, especially to decrease the possibility of fatalities in case on an emergency.

Mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds also agrees that Portmore needs a hospital. "I would like to see the government build at least a type five clinic in the area," says Mayor Hinds.

He further states, "I do understand that finances are tight, but with the growing population in Portmore there needs to be better health care facilities available."

He adds that he has been in recent discussion with representatives from CayJam Developments Limited, a property development company incorporated in The Cayman Islands that has plans of building a private hospital in Portmore to facilitate 300,000 people. He notes that CayJam assured him that by January there should be some movement, as it relates to the hospital plans.