Residents in six Jamaican parishes are to get free screenings for heart disease, cancer, prostate disease, mental health issues, diabetes and sexually transmitted diseases, thanks to a volunteer corps of doctors and nurses from Help Jamaica Medical Mission.
The New Jersey-based organisation will be coming to the island on its annual mission from September 4 to 16.
During the visit, the volunteer healthcare specialists from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area will also be screening residents of Kingston, St Thomas, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester and Westmoreland for sickle cell and a variety of other conditions.
“We have been saving lives, making people see again and become healthier, because of our yearly medical mission to Jamaica,” Help Jamaica Medical Mission President, Dr. Robert Clarke, told JIS News in an interview.
Since 2010 when his team conducted its inaugural mission to the island, the volunteers have served some 562,000 patients, Dr. Clarke noted.
The President said that last year the team of medical practitioners saw more than 4,500 patients and donated medical supplies valued at US$155,000.
He noted that the New Jersey Medical Mission has spent some US$6 million to deliver medical services to the underserved in Jamaica.
Dr. Clarke informed that a recent boat ride fundraiser had brought in just over US$70,000, which will go towards the medical mission to Jamaica this coming September.