Health Minister Puts Fast-Food Tax On The Table - Gov’t Facilitates Consultation On Hospital User-Fe

KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE GOVERNMENT is considering several measures, among them the imposition of a levy on fast foods, to fund health care on the island. Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson, who will today head to the Carter Hall, Holy Cross Church, in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, for the second in a series of consultations on user fees in public health facilities, said the proposal to impose a tax on fast foods is among several that are being considered. Speaking at the Mandeville Hotel, in Manchester, for the Southern Regional Health Authority leg of the meetings last Friday, the minister said some of the other proposals being considered are the implementation of a national health insurance scheme; fees for selected secondary care; and the imposition of fees for all secondary care services.