THE GLEANER'S weekly Profiles in Medicine page has been adjudged the best health page in the region.

The announcement was made at the seventh annual Caribbean Media Awards ceremony held at the Accra Beach Hotel in Barbados last Friday, where several other awards were handed out for excellence in health journalism.

Davies

FINANCE MINISTER Dr. Omar Davies is set to be the first guest in a series of interactive debates run by Go-Jamaica, The Gleaner's Website.

Jamaicans and interested people from around the world will be able to chat directly with the Finance Minister and ask any question they wish using the latest Internet technology.

THE GOVERNMENT bowed slightly last night to media pressure on the Corruption Prevention Bill, although penalties for publishing material obtained from a proposed Corruption Commission will remain.

At the same time, Minister of National Security and Justice, K.D. Knight who piloted the amended version through the House of Representatives, warned private sector persons with seats on public sector boards that they too would be subject to its provisions.

FINANCE MINISTER Dr. Omar Davies yesterday announced a 50 per cent increase in Government pensions in the House of Representatives.

Persons with 10-19 years service will now get a minimum of $54,000 annually, which is just more than $1,000 per week, while those with more than 20 years service will get a minimum $72,000 annually, nearly $1,400 per week. The former rates were $36,000 per annum and $48,000 per annum, respectively.

THE NEWLY-established Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in the Ministry of Environment and Housing is taking steps to collect the more than $64 million in mortgage payments owed by delinquent home owners.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Minnette Mitchell, told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday that the Unit had been given five years to clear the backlog from owners in about 500 schemes. During that time, decisions such as what portion of the arrears, if any, to be written off would be taken.

Beaches Negril's fun pal, Kady Moseley stares into the equipment being used to examine her eyes by Dr. Allan Jones, during an eye clinic put on by specialists from the Canadian Vision Care Centre. Residents from the Negril community and its environs benefited from the clinic. - Contributed

THE COST of health care and medication are very high in Jamaica, and as a result not many people are able to access proper health care when they should. However, help has been coming from both far and near.

A team of 12 eye specialists from the Canadian Vision Care Centre is now in Jamaica helping to ease the burden of thousands of citizens by providing them with free eye care and reading glasses, where necessary.