The South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) is a statutory body of the Ministry of Health. SERHA is one of four Regional Health Authorities formed as a part of the Health Sector reform, by passage of the National Health Services Act in 1997.
SERHA is responsible for the delivery of health care services to the residents of St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Kingston and St. Andrew. This represents 47% of the population of Jamaica. SERHA is managed by a team of directors ably led by the Regional Director who reports to a Board, which is appointed by the Minister of Health. The region is funded by allocations from the Ministry of Health and fees collected at its institutions.
Health Care is delivered through a network of 10 hospitals and 89 Health Centres. Five of the ten hospitals within the region are also specialist or National Referral Hospitals. Some of these institutions also accept patients referred from other Caribbean islands. SERHA employs approximately 6000 individuals from a variety of medical and non-medical groups. To achieve its mandate, the staff and the Board of the SERHA must ensure there is robust corporate governance. Let’s see how they are doing!!
The National Health Fund (NHF) was established as a statutory organisation in 2003 by the National Health Fund Act with a mandate to reduce the burden of healthcare in Jamaica. It fulfills its mandate by:
- Helping Jamaicans access medication in both the public and private health sectors by providing the NHFCard
- Delivering in-patient and outpatient pharmacy services for the public health sector, including the management of the medical warehouse and over 100 pharmacy locations.
- Providing institutional grants to improve healthcare delivery including infrastructure development, training, disaster preparedness, medical equipment and transportation.
- Supporting health-promotion programmes to aid in the prevention, reduction and management of non-communicable and communicable diseases
The NHF’s revenue sources for the provision of benefits for the NHFCard and for grants to institutions are:
- 20% of Special Consumption Tax charged on Tobacco Products
- 5% of Special Consumption Tax
- 1% of employee and employer NIS contributions
NHF projects a surplus of $2,298.40 million. To achieve its target, the NIF’s staff and Board must uphold strong corporate governance. Let’s take a look at their progress!
