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Establish a National Health Insurance Scheme, the Wellness Plan, to provide basic health insurance for all Jamaicans.
WELLNESS Health Insurance Plan
#1 The Wellness Health Insurance Plan will be implemented over five years to cover all poor, elderly (over 60 years old) and vulnerable persons over 5 years.
#2 The Plan will provide twelve doctors visits per year, drug benefits for all major prescriptions, hospital visits including room and board, surgical procedures and assistance, and ten visits for physiotherapy and radiotherapy. The Plan will cover 450,000 beneficiaries at at cost of $4 Billion per annum.
#3 In Phase 1, the poor will receive doctors visits, prescription drug benefits, in-hospital visits (including room and board), hospital outpatient visits, partial coverage of surgical procedures, eye exams once every two years, lens every two years, and frames once every three years.
#4 Phase 2 will be extended to persons aged 35-60 (to provide national coverage) and the scheme will be upgraded to include mammography, pap smears, colon cancer exams, and prostate cancer exam.
Health Security Plan
#1 Launch a major Ministry of Health training and recruitment initiative to fill hospital staff vacancies.
#2 Actively source drugs internationally at lower prices to reduce costs.
#3 Investigate the establishment of convalescence homes for lower cost patient recuperation instead of more costly hospital recuperation.
#4 Re-establish mobile clinics to provide medical access to the poor, elderly and infirmed.
#5 Strengthen the emergency medical services such as paramedics and rapid response with improved equipment and machinery.
#6 Remove user fees for emergency care, immunizations and diseases, particularly for the poor and vulnerable.
#7 Build alliances to ensure more affordable accommodation medication and treatment is made available for HIV/AIDS patients and children explained though
#8 Expand and fast-track the programme of hospital improvements with target hospitals (e.g., SpanishTown).
#9 Re-introduce four basic disciplines in all of the main parish hospitals with services on a timely basis: (1) pediatrics (2) surgery (3) medicine (4) obstetrics/gynecology.
Child Welfare Plan
The JLP will ensure that Jamaica’s children are protected, treated well and provided with the opportunity to develop to the fullest.
Current Child Welfare Issues
- Many children in Jamaica continue to suffer from various kinds of abuse and neglect.
- Poor children suffer the most from hunger and a lack of consistent access to education.
- Many infants born with rare diseases or illnesses suffer because their parents cannot afford the high cost of remedial treatment.
- Abandoned or orphaned children face a difficult future and existing facilities are run-down and in poor conditions inappropriate for developing children who will become productive adults.
Child Welfare Plan
#1 Remove user fees in hospitals for immunizations and other major neo-natal care.
#2 Establish a special emergency financial support fund for all infants with serious birth defects and rare illnesses.
#3 Upgrade and improve the conditions of Children’s Homes and Places of Safety nationwide.
#4 Expand and upgrade the school feeding programme in schools, focused on ages 2 – 8.
#5 Develop a special programme in schools to detect learning disabilities in young children early.
#6 Formalize and upgrade existing basic schools to government infant school level and build 70 new basic schools.
#7 Upgrade training for 3000 basic school teachers to government infant school level.
#8 Implement free basic school education.
Youth Development Plan
The JLP will focus on Jamaica’s youth to ensure that they have access to the physical, educational, financial and other resources necessary to become productive and hardworking contributors to the society.
Current Youth Issues
- Jamaica’s youth under 30 represent over 65% of the entire population.
- Young people in Jamaica suffer from a lack of opportunity with an unemployment rate for men 25% under 25 and women 44% under 25.
- The Jamaican educational system has not provided equal access and opportunities to young people with high illiteracy, non-attendance, and exam failure rate.
- Talented young Jamaicans have limited opportunities to enhance and develop their abilities, particularly in sports.
Youth Development Plan
#1 Implement the comprehensive LEARN Programme plan (Learning and Education Reform for NationBuilding) to improve the quality and reduce the cost of education from basic to secondary schools.
#2 Widen the range of HEART academies to include entertainment arts, media communications, and computer training to the level of the International Computer Driving Programme (ICDP).
#3 Provide easier terms for student loans and repayment terms for students in tertiary institutions.
#4 Promote job creation through 30 mega-investment projects in tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure development and information technology.
#5 Re-start and expand SOLIDARITY to provide low-cost financing for young entrepreneurs.
#6 Expand construction of playfields and courts in towns and communities.
#7 Train coaches and provide incentives to operate in inner city and rural areas.
#8 Provide scholarships and other mechanisms to identify, encourage and support outstanding young athletes and artists
#9 Promote community sports and arts development programmes
Gender Equity Plan
The JLP will implement legal reforms and expand existing programme to ensure that men and women are treated equally and that abuses against women are punished with the full force of the law.
Current Gender Issues
- Women in Jamaica still suffer from high levels of discrimination including sexual harassment in the workplace.
- Women also face alarming levels of physical abuse and other forms of domestic violence
- Women have the highest unemployment rates, particularly among women under 25 (44%).
- Financial support for entities such as the Women’s Crisis Centre is sporadic and insufficient and needs to be reviewed.
Gender Equity Plan
#1 Recognize and conform to several international declarations which fully recognize women’s rights as human rights.
#2 Reaffirm and strengthen the Bureau of Women’s Affairs for policy review and implementation to ensure a critical review of the impact of policies on gender.
#3 Strengthen domestic violence legislation to increase punishment for physical abuse.
#4 Establish a programme with churches to build more shelters for battered women across the island.
#5 Provide tax incentives for firms that implement day care centres.
#6 Introduce sexual harassment legislation.
#7 Review legislation in incest to ensure that the law is effective.
#8 Require medical professionals, teachers and social welfare workers to report instances of incest or sexual abuse.
#9 Expand the number of Family Courts or establish special sittings of Family Court in non-court houses in rural areas to provide increased access, especially to poor mothers.
#10 Increase training in the hospitals to implement gender sensitive health and
education to protect women and children who face increased risks of HIV
infection and provide for subsidized screenings for breast and cervical cancer.
Care for the Elderly Plan
The JLP will work to protect and take care of the special needs of the elderly in the society to ensure they are treated well and with respect.
Current Issues with the Elderly
- Jamaica ’s population is increasingly becoming older.
- Many elderly people, particularly those who are poor, suffer from hunger, depression, and loneliness.
- The elderly are particularly hard hit by the high cost of medical care and drugs and many find it difficult to pay for necessary medical care.
- Many elderly persons have no savings or pension, or their pension is inadequate to meet even basic living needs
Care for the Elderly Plan
#1 Implement the Wellness National Insurance Plan making comprehensive national health insurance for the elderly a priority.
#2 Actively source drugs internationally to reduce the cost of necessary medication, particularly for the elderly.
#3 Establish mobile health clinics for the elderly and infirmed.
#4 Exempt the elderly and poor from hospital user fees.
#5 Provide greater funding to Golden Age Homes to ensure that the elderly are treated well and with respect.
#6 Promote the establishment of Golden Age Homes to be operated by non-governmental organizations.
#7 Assist elderly persons with a replacement home where they’re living alone in dilapidated conditions.
#8 Implement voluntary individual retirement savings plan, HOPE (for Health Housing, Pension and Education) in which contributors will be able to contribute and save tax-free using the benefits for housing, health, pension and educational costs.
Specially Challenged Persons Support Plan
The JLP will work to ensure that persons who face mentally and physically challenges are treated equally and with respect.
Current Status of Specially Challenged Persons
- According to United Nations standards, approximately 10% of a given population have some form of special challenge (“disability”).
- In Jamaica, the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) coordinates national efforts to provide assistance to specially-challenged persons.
- In 2001/2002, the JCPD spent J$16 million in the provision of services to approximately 4,500 individuals including training, counselling, accessing concessions, and operations of a hostel for 16 girls.
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Specially Challenged Persons Support Plan
#1 Conduct a comprehensive review of legislation to remove all discrimination against those with mental or physical disabilities.
#2 Strengthen the Mona Rehabilitation Centre and identify multilateral project financing to establish a rural physical rehabilitation centre.
#3 Promote the establishment of a Rehabilitation Centre in Montego Bay using unused space in Cornwall Regional Hospital .
#4 Promote economic activity suitable for the creation of jobs for the handicapped.
#5 Require special education courses in all teacher training colleges.
#6 Establish a joint effort between the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) and Combined Disabilities Association to review the HEART curricula and devise a special training programme for specially-challenged persons.
HELPING HAND PLAN
The JLP will establish a HELPING HAND programme that will expand the food stamp programme and provide financial assistance for food, funeral, fire, floods and other natural disasters, as well as feeding of children and the elderly.
HELPING HAND PLAN
- The current food stamp programme is inadequate in terms of the benefits provided to the most needy and vulnerable in the society.
- The food stamp programme does not provide any special assistance during times when emergency support is needed (e.g., flood, fire, and funerals).
- Other sources of financial assistance for emergency life support situationsare either inadequate (e.g., NIS funeral benefits) or are ad hoc and arbitrary (e.g., special relief after a devastating flood) or lack the immediacy to effectively deal with traumatic losses, often failing to put children and the elderly first.
#1 Overhaul the food stamp programme to create a more comprehensive, relevant and beneficial support programme called “ HELPING HAND” (Hunger and Emergency Life support Plan).
- HELPING HAND will be targeted at the needy, poor, vulnerable, lactating mothers, and young mothers without child support.
- HELPING HAND will extend assistance beyond simply food stamps (hunger) to include assistance for emergency life support situations including disaster relief, funerals, and fires.
- HELPING HAND will also provide financial assistance to poor senior citizens and shut-ins without food as well as poor children in school who lack regular access to a decent meal daily.
- To qualify for participation in the HELPING HAND Plan, potential recipients must have a disability or inability to support themselves and must demonstrate a willingness to participate in improving their situation (e.g., demonstrating they have tried to find work).
Labour Relations Plan
The JLP will seek to ensure a highly competitive, educated, trained, and productive labour force that is treated fairly and with respect and that operates in an environment of industrial peace and stability.
Current Situation in Labour
- Labour force participation rates have fallen (to 63% in 2001) with a higher participation rate among men (73%) than women (54%).
- The fastest growing segment of the labour force are middle aged (55-64) and older (65 and over) workers, which grew by 4.6% and 6.0% respectively in 2001.
- In contrast, labour force participation by young adults (20-24) and teenagers (14-19) has fallen (by 1.0% and 9.2% respectively in 2001).
- The unemployment rate for young (under 25) men remains critically high (25%) and is even higher for young (under 25) women (44%).
- Part-time employment continues to increase, representing 12.5% of total employment in 2001, an increase of 2.2% from 2000.
- In contrast, full time employment is down, falling by 9,900 (or 1.2% between 2000 and 2001).
- Females represent the majority of the unemployed (62%).
- The overall average increase in salaries in the services and manufacturing sectors was 6.8% in 2001, below the inflation rate of 8.7%.
- The average number of man-days lost per worker as a result of work stoppages has increased (to 4 from 2.4) involving 3,275 workers and 13,178 man-days lost in 2001.
- The Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) continues to be the final arbiter of labour disputes and settled 15 cases in 2001 (half of which related to wages and conditions of employment) and had 19 cases outstanding 2001 end
- The Ministry of Labour received 4,765 complaints in 2001 (up from 4,502 in 2000), of which almost half were related to terminations or redundancies.
- A significant percentage (70%) of the 95 work-place accidents reported to the Ministry of Labour in 2001 warranted investigations by the Ministry of Labour (compared to 60% of work place accidents reported to the Ministry of Labour in 2000).
- Industrial deaths increased several fold in 2001, with six being reported to the Ministry of Labour, compared with one in 2000.
Labour Relations Plan
#1 Make government employees subject to all the requirements of the Labour Relations and Industrial Dispute Act (LRIDA), the Employment (Redundancy) Payment Act, and other major labour laws and regulations.
#2 Upgrade and improve the Labour Market Information System (LMIS) to provide greater sharing of data to facilitate shared learning and increased adoption of best practices.
#3 Undertake a comprehensive reform of labour legislation to update, modernize, and streamline the Factories Act, Maternity Leave Act, and Occupational Safety and Health Legislation Act.
#4 Work closely with representatives of church organizations, unions, and employers to achieve an acceptable compromise on the implementation of flexi-work arrangements in Jamaica to improve our competitiveness.
#5 Introduce a national workmen skills grading programme through the HEART Trust/National Training Agency to grade the skills of artisans for employment.
#6 Explore avenues for maximizing and expanding the hotel workers overseas employment programme.
#7 Systematically promote memoranda of understanding (MOUs) in strategic industries (similar to the MOU in the bauxite industry) that establish competitiveness-enhancing measures while ensuring increased worker participation in the gains from enhanced productivity and efficiency.
#8 Expand the number of HEART academies (e.g., build a new IT academy in
Mandeville and a Tourism academy in Montego Bay ). |
