A new mental health centre, complete with three consultation rooms and a waiting area, was officially opened in Greater Portmore, St Catherine, on Thursday.

The facility was constructed with the assistance of the United States military under its project, Beyond the Horizon.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Dr. Marion Bullock Ducasse, director of emergency, disaster management and special services at the Ministry of Health and Environment, expressed gratitude to the United States servicemen, who spent the last 10 weeks working on the health centre.

Bullock-Ducasse said construction of the facility and renovation of the existing Greater Portmore Health Centre by the servicemen was a timely gesture and helped to support the Government's drive to renew primary health centre services. She said the self-referral rate at hospitals - 88 per cent - could be significantly reduced. The emergency director said 60 per cent of these patients could be seen at health centres.

ease the burden

"We have committed to rehabilitate 156 health centres across the island to ensure that persons have access to health facilities at the level of their community and also to ease the burden, which is placed on our public hospitals," Bullock-Ducasse said.

St Catherine Health Services Manager, Godfrey Boyd, told JIS News that Portmore, home to some 300,000 people, had been in dire need of a mental health centre. Prior to this facility, those suffering from mental illnesses attended the neighbouring Greater Portmore Health Centre, where curative services are offered.

The newly built centre will now house the parish's mental illness specialist, including a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

St Catherine Medical Officer of Health, Francia Prosper Cheng, said 2,132 mentally ill patients were seen at the Greater Portmore Health Centre last year. Already, between January and March this year, more than 500 mental patients have sought assistance.

"This facility is particularly important to us, in that our mental health services are a little crippled due to lack of space, (and) lack of staff, and with a facility like this, at least now we can say we are putting some emphasis on mental health," she asserted.

In terms of renovation work to the Greater Portmore Health Centre, the US servicemen assisted with repainting of the structure, landscaping of the grounds, repairing the roof and other infrastructural works.