After seven years in gestation, a partnership forged between the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the European Union gave birth on Tuesday to the second of four high-dependency units (HDU) that were promised to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates in Jamaica.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton charged the medical team to use the recent acquisition to boost the hospital’s track record.

As at 2018, Jamaica’s maternal death rate stood at 93.5 per every 100,000 with a child mortality rate of 16.6 per 1,000 live births.

The establishment of HDUs in select public hospitals was a target of the Programme for the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality, which benefited from the €22-million investment in 2013.

The Jamaican Government was initially given 48 months to improve newborn and emergency obstetrics by establishing 11 HDUs in five hospitals across the island.