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