WESTERN BUREAU: Despite the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ recently publicised claim that Jamaica’s doctor internship programme is currently oversubscribed, questions and doubts still remain about whether there are enough interns now in the...
WESTERN BUREAU: Growing up in the quiet, rural community of Johnson in St James, Jamaica, Tashauna Holmes could never have imagined that one day she would stand as valedictorian of Harvard University’s 2025 graduating class. Her journey – from...
WESTERN BUREAU: It took more than ten years, three police officers, and a change of parish before Mercia Fraser could finally say the words she had waited so long to utter: “Now we can go and deal with our closure and say that it is done.” Fraser,...
WESTERN BUREAU: More than a decade after her son, Mario Deane, was brutally beaten in a jail cell over a ganja spliff, Mercia Fraser is still haunted by the loss – but now, she is finding purpose in her pain. Just days after a Westmoreland jury...
WESTERN BUREAU: Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Claudette Thompson has argued that public demands for harsher punishments – such as the death penalty as clamoured for in cases of mass murder – ring hollow when many of those calling for...
WESTERN BUREAU: Several former medical technologists who resigned before the payment of salary arrears to their colleagues in December 2023 are expressing frustration over what they describe as the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ (MOHW) failure to...
WESTERN BUREAU: Just over a year after the mysterious disappearance of 61-year-old Joyce Fearon during a church trip in Manchester, her sister, Nerissa Cassells, remains hopeful that someone will come forward with credible information to reunite...
WESTERN BUREAU: Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says Jamaica is not receiving healthcare that reflects the significant investment the Government is making to enhance and develop the public health infrastructure. He expressed the...
WESTERN BUREAU: The apparent lack of accessible help for families of autistic children is an issue that Nicolette*, a mother of an autistic son now in his 20s, wants to see changed after years of enduring unsympathetic and unhelpful responses to...
WESTERN BUREAU: The Family Court’s decision last week to free a teen of murder charges following the stabbing death of a schoolmate earlier this year has triggered a wave of criticism. But some seasoned attorneys-at-law contend that the decision...
WESTERN BUREAU: While foreigners in the island’s lock-ups are subjected to the same ills faced by locals – from termites to extortion – there are mixed views on whether more of those who commit non-violent offences, such as drug smuggling, should...
WESTERN BUREAU: Lenworth Fulton, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), has called on the government to improve land availability for aspiring agricultural entrepreneurs. Fulton’s appeal follows the ongoing struggles of Nadesha...
WESTERN BUREAU: Nearly three years after the collapse of the Troy bridge in Trelawny, residents, businesses and commuters are still grappling with the hardships caused by the absence of the vital artery. The century-and-a-half-year-old structure...
WESTERN BUREAU: A St James mother is fuming, months after her 16-year-old daughter’s expulsion from St James High School as she faces difficulties in getting her enrolled at another institution in the parish, after the teen was reportedly captured...
WESTERN BUREAU: Consumers are expressing concern about the poor quality of unlabelled bulk rice being sold in wholesales and supermarkets in western Jamaica, and are calling on the regulatory authority to remove the product from the market. Across...
WESTERN BUREAU: The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is calling for harsher penalties for persons found to be poaching crocodiles as Jamaicans continue to hunt the protected species for meat. Jamaica has only one species of crocodile...
WESTERN BUREAU: The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) are dismissing concerns which were raised during May’s meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) regarding alleged structural defects at the...
WESTERN BUREAU: Nineteen years ago, a desperate Elivienne Morquette and dozens of other Haitians boarded a rickety canoe and set sail on the perilous Caribbean Sea, propelled by waves of hope in their hearts as they fled a country racked by...
WESTERN BUREAU: It took nine months for a bridge along Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay to again fall into disrepair after a $6-million rehabilitation project, which the National Works Agency (NWA) trumpeted was completed four weeks ahead of...
Increased internet access by students because of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unfortunate byproduct – an uptick in underage sexual content being shared on social media and online platforms. This has raised fresh concerns for stakeholders,...
WESTERN BUREAU: If the oversight committee instituted to monitor the Cornwall Regional Hospital’s [CRH] restoration work had been properly informed and equipped to do its job, the Type A facility’s rehabilitation may have gone more smoothly at...
WESTERN BUREAU: Following the recent seizures of two large caches of guns and ammunition in Montego Bay, St James, along with law enforcement’s continued thrust against the cocaine trade in the western city, the local top brass is advocating for a...
WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaicans in several sections of the island are bemoaning the struggle to get water in their communities amid years of unfulfilled promises and a worsening drought affecting the island. In an advertisement in today’s Sunday Gleaner...
WESTERN BUREAU: Despite the Jamaica Midwives Association (JMA) signing on to the Government’s public sector compensation review last November, several community midwives are set on a potential collision course with their union over deducted...
