With the local health sector on crisis footing as a spiralling rate of infections slam under-resourced hospitals, the health ministry on Friday suspended elective surgeries and other crucial medical procedures in public facilities as it went into......

Nearly a decade after talks began, trained pharmacists, with competence and certification to administer vaccines, are still unable to do so because of an unnamed legislative hurdle. The health professionals say they have been lobbying for the...

Dr Swinburne Augustine, a research microbiologist and immunologist at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has fought his share of battles. A former soldier, he has been decorated for his role in the Grenada invasion in 1983...

More than a third of about $20 million worth of government contracts issued since 2019 in the Ipswich Division in St Elizabeth under a special fund went to the leadership of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) local machinery, a Gleaner...

Although the number of convicted sex offenders registered in Jamaica has almost doubled over the last three years, according to new data, specialists believe it still doesn’t tell the true picture. They fear that the low rate of conviction for se...

There are indications that no rigorous due diligence was conducted for popular pastor Merrick ‘Al’ Miller before he was selected for a national award. Despite this, however, one member of the committee that conferred on Miller the Commander of t...

High levels of absenteeism among Jamaica’s nurses are increasingly a cause for concern for hospital administrators battling an unprecedented public-health emergency. That revelation by a senior nursing official on Thursday gave broader insight......

As COVID-19 infections streak across Jamaica at lightning speed, parents have been warned to safeguard preteens against the virus, with a paediatrician at the Bustamante Hospital for Children citing a troubling uptick in cases. A third wave of the....

The majority of Jamaica’s 700 sex workers have no plans to take the COVID-19 vaccine, a worrying revelation that presents health ministry officials with grave concerns for a high-risk group that operates in the shadows. “Most are opposed to gett...

WESTERN BUREAU: With bodies piling up as a result of the increasing number of COVID-19-related deaths in the parish, funeral directors in Westmoreland want the Government to set defined timelines for burials to alleviate storage problems. Melvin...

Jamaica crossed the psychological hurdle of administering half a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, an important step in the journey towards the 65 per cent herd immunity of its population by March 2022. The development came 48 hours......

Despite having had to resort to using shovels to channel floodwaters on to the road and away from their homes, some residents of Unions Estate in St Catherine are fearful that they could still experience disaster if the National Housing Trust (NHT.....

WESTERN BUREAU: A senior hospital administrator in western Jamaica has recommended boosting bed capacity by 25 per cent to manage the surge of coronavirus cases. Increasing the bed count from 800 to 1,000 is viewed as critical to hospitals staying.....

Inflamed by years-long stagnation in salaries and inertia in negotiations, more than 40 contracted drivers of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) staged an islandwide sickout and protest on Thursday to press for better remuneration. The entrance to the.....

WESTERN BUREAU: A call by Dr Roger Hunter for the use of pulse oximeters in all public spaces as part of the effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus has been deemed as unnecessary by two colleagues of the medical fraternity. Dr Mike Mills,......

Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) President Patsy Edwards Henry is moving to crush a rebellion within the ranks of public nurses who launched an islandwide sickout on Wednesday that crippled operations at hospitals already hobbled by the COVID-19....

Customers of medical marijuana distributor Epican could end up without their fix in coming months after the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) ordered the entity to destroy more than 1,000 plants cultivated after its licence to operate expired at.....

WESTERN BUREAU: Accustomed to perennial poor service at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), many persons who showed up at the Montego Bay-based facility yesterday were initially unaware of a sickout among nurses, with almost half of the cohort...

WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica’s favoured position in travel and tourism will be heavily weighted on the success of its vaccination campaign, the country’s minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has said. Bartlett was responding to news that Jamaica’s...

The Corporate Area-based Hope Zoo, which had been teetering on the brink of closure as COVID-19 ravaged its revenue streams, has been given a lifeline to help sustain its operations, including more than 1,100 animals, by Lifespan. Lifespan CEO...