Within the next three months, residents of Brown’s Hall and surrounding communities in St Catherine will have a $25million health centre close to their homes.

The facility is being built through a collaboration involving Kemteck Development and Construction Limited and Omni Industries Limited, which are providing the funds; the National Health Fund (NHF), which did the design work; and the Ministry of Health.

Speaking at a ceremony to break ground for the project on Wednesday Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the development of the health centre represents a “true partnership.”

Tufton said that the heads of the two companies – Sylvester Tulloch of Kemteck and Von White of Omni – who are natives of Brown’s Hall, did not hesitate to partner with the Ministry to establish the facility.

He said that the health centre will assist the Ministry’s efforts to get residents to take responsibility for their own health, by getting regular health checks and taking steps to prevent lifestyle-related illnesses.

“We have to get back to basics and use the community-based approach and sell the message of how we should live, how we should treat with ourselves in order to avoid diseases,” he said.

Deputy Mayor of Spanish Town and Councillor for the Ginger Ridge Division Ralston Wilson told the gathering that the building of the health centre is one of the “biggest things” to happen for Brown’s Hall, and lauded the donors for “giving back hugely to this community.”

Kemtek Development and Construction Limited designs and builds residential homes across the island.

Omni Industries Limited is a manufacturer of PVC pipes and fittings, and a range of domestic and industrial plastic products.