Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton has charged the team at the Environmental Health Laboratory (EHL) to place greater focus on public education on indoor air-quality monitoring, to prevent potential health risks.

“We are going to have to do more to alert our public and, indeed, in the health space, around prevention as opposed to ‘testing for curing’ as it relates to air quality. I am talking about the particles that impact human health, or indeed, working conditions,” he said.

“We are going to have to work with our collaborators, the public health officers, as they go out in the field, the extension services, if you will, to help Jamaicans to understand the importance of preventative measures when it comes to air quality because it does affect your health,” he added.

Dr Tufton was delivering the keynote address at the EHL’s international accreditation awards ceremony held at the AC Marriott Hotel in Kingston last Thursday.

He pointed out that in humid climates like Jamaica, air conditioning is commonly used to cool buildings, which can, over time, contribute to mould growth, particularly if the systems are not properly maintained, impacting the air quality in buildings.

“It is a wider problem than we think,” Dr Tufton said, noting that in the hospital setting, poor air quality can allow pathogens to circulate, increasing the risks of infections.

It also causes down time in health service delivery as measures are put in place to address air quality and ventilation issues.

“We have seen it in the extreme. Cornwall Regional was a big issue; that is how it started. We have seen it recently at Kingston Public Hospital,” the minister pointed out.

He noted that in the management of “sophisticated environments” like operating theatres more needs to be done in terms of training and establishing the appropriate protocols that must be followed and called on the EHL to provide guidance in this regard.

During the ceremony, the EHL was officially presented with ISO/IEC 17025 certification by the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC).

The certification affirms the laboratory’s technical competence and global readiness to deliver reliable, high-quality environmental testing and monitoring services, strengthening the country’s capacity to safeguard both public health and the environment.

The achievement marks a significant step in ensuring the accuracy, reliability, and credibility of laboratory results critical to national health outcomes.

An entity under the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the EHL’s mandate is to safeguard public health and the environment by providing accurate and reliable analyses of environmental samples. 

This includes testing air, water, soil, food, and other materials to identify and monitor contaminants. The laboratory also supports various environmental health programmes, including air, food, water, and soil surveillance.