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Broadening Access To Healthcare For The Disabled
Universal access to health has been the buzz phrase for a few years now. When we think of this concept, we tend to think mostly of financial access, but it is much more than that. Our system is currently skewed to providing financial access to health, which, in itself, is very important as it can be a great barrier to health-seeking behaviour. We have been tackling the financial barrier with the no-user-fees policy and moved even further along with the recent signing of the consultancy agreement to begin work on the National Health Insurance Plan. This is apt as we celebrate 40 years of the Alma Ata Declaration, made at…
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Jamaicans Moving Towards Self-Care
Last week, my company was involved in the Medical Association of Jamaica’s (MAJ) annual symposium, which allowed businesses in the field of health care to display their latest product offerings. I was pleased to see a few involved in health technology like myself. It tells me that the market is really changing as we are beginning to embrace technology more and more and understanding its importance to the health-care business. I was also impressed with the receptiveness of the audience which primarily consisted of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, medical technicians and even some outside of the medical field. As we went through the technology offerings with them, it struck me how much we have changed in…
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The Importance & Benefits of E-Prescriptions
There is no doubt that the world is changing dramatically, and Jamaica is not being left behind. Gone are the days when you have to stand in line at a store to purchase goods and acquire services. Jamaicans are now living in a technologically advanced world where we can do anything and go anywhere without changing our physical location. We now speak about life as if we are on an assembly line where efficiency is paramount and saving time and money crucial. This transformation is also taking place in thehealth care industry. Telemedicine is set to take off globally and will allow us to access health care anyplace, anytime. Electronic prescription is an…
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Health Meet Technology
Health is by far one of the most important assets we can have as individuals. If we do not have good health, we pretty much have nothing. Mahatma Gandhi rightfully stated, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” The prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, and the effect they have had on the population not just in Jamaica but worldwide, signals to us that we need a revolution in health to arrest this problem. Without a properly organised and implemented health-care delivery system, there can be no true sustainable development of our country and its…
