Healthcare situation Jamaica

This is a bit of a long shot, but here goes:

I am a volunteer paralegal at a community law centre in the UK, we are representing a Jamaican national whom the UK Home Office wish to deport to Jamaica. The client is tetraplegic following a shooting and requires 24 hour care. The Home Office have identified a care centre called The Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre, Kingston, Jamaica as a place to which he could be transferred.

The Home Office maintain that this centre is equipped to provide the level of care that my client requires. we are of the opinion that there is insufficient evidence to support this proposition as the centre appears to deal with rehabilitation and not long term care of those with a prognosis of no improvement. Additionally, the limited information available online suggests that the centre relies upon family support to provide patient care. Our client has only elderly relatives in Jamaica; they are in neither the heatlh nor location to make it possible for them to assist my client in any way.

We are finding that information is pretty thin on the ground about the general levels of healthcare in Jamaica and especially about the centre itself. As yet, we have not been able to make contact with the centre. We are therefore seeking expert opinion on the healthcare situation generally in Jamaica, and also the situation at the centre itself, i.e. what conditions my client could expect to be faced with should he be transferred to the centre. Additionally, we are of the opinion that expert opinion on the prevailing attitudes to nationals who have spent long periods outside of Jamaica and how they might affect the client’s experience of the centre would be of value.

We would be very grateful if anyone could make some comments on the above topics, or recommend an individual qualified to provide an expert opinion on the issues I have mentioned.

Our client was severely injured in a shooting and as a consequence suffers from tetraplegia and is wheelchair bound. The bullet remains in situ and the prognosis is that he is unlikely to recover. He receives 24 hour care and occupies a private room at a care facility in London.

We are of the opinion that it is in our client’s interest to stay in the UK as this is where he has been for much of his adult life and where he has the majority of his family. We hope finding expert opinion in the areas mentioned will help us in building a case to assist our client to stay in the UK.

I would be very grateful if anyone could suggest contacts who may be in a position to comment as experts.

Many thanks,

Ian Clarke