Prime Minister Bruce Golding says he has taken steps that could see the establishment an organ bank in Jamaica, where organs such as the liver and kidney of persons who have died may be transplanted.
Delivering the fourth annual Hugh Lawson Shearer Memorial Lecture at the 15th International Diabetes Conference Saturday night at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort in Ocho Rios, Golding also said he was considering the implementation of a junk (food) tax to encourage Jamaicans to consume more nutritiously.
"I would want to be guided by the medical practitioners, I want to be guided by the Church but I want us to explore the possibility of establishing, with appropriate legislation, an organ bank so that people who don't have to die do not," Golding said.
He said he has asked for a paper to be prepared so that he can see the issues involved in such a scheme, including how other countries do it, the regulatory arrangements that are put in place, and how to avoid exploitation and commercialisation of body parts.
The prime minister admitted to trespassing on issues that involve medical, ethical and moral considerations but said the country was being done a disservice when it continues to be "enslaved" by a culture and a system that allows the interment of many good, vital organs.
Diet control
On the matter of junk food, the prime minister said more ought to be done to control and influence the diet of Jamaicans.
He says while being mindful of World Trade Organisation obligations, he has asked the Ministry of Health to examine and recommend measures that could be instituted to seek to influence the kind of foods that are allowed into the island and available to consumers.
"I said to the minister of health that I'm prepared to consider, for example, tariff measures so that if you want to eat junk food, pay some more for it, let me see if I can discourage you from consuming it," Golding stated.
"If we are importing junk then we need to consider whether there ought to be a junk tax, to at least derive some funds to finance the hospitals which have to deal with the consequences of consuming so much junk," he added.
He said the Government was hoping that the insistence on certain labelling standards would have been sufficient to cause people to eat properly, but the necessary self-discipline was lacking in this regard.
Golding says a alot of money is spent each year to provide treatment for conditions that could have been avoided.
Turning to the matter of HIV/AIDS, Golding said he was concerned about a recent survey that indicates that 47 per cent of persons between 15 and 25 years old who are sexually active have admitted to having more than one sex partner.