Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) diagnostic test
The National Health Fund (NHF) has recently launched a new addition to the National Health Fund (NHF) Card Programme, the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) diagnostic test.
The launch occurred on Saturday (February 4) at the Jamaica Cancer Society to commemorate World Cancer Day.
Minister of Health & Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, MP, in his message at the event urged people to take advantage of this benefit.
“Any socioeconomic group can take advantage of this benefit now being offered by the NHF. Once you have an NHF Card as a male, you are entitled to do a prostate screen once per year to see how the prostate checks out. This is the only way to identify warning signs and take swift action towards treatment,” the Minister urged.
He also stressed the importance of screening for prostate cancer and said that, “prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Jamaican men. The low uptake of screening is a major risk factor, for example of the 5.1 % of men 40 years and older who were sent by healthcare providers for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening test, only 1.9% of men in this age group report having done a PSA test.”
The PSA test precedes several other new benefits on the NHF Card Programme that will become accessible in the coming months, and is the third diagnostic test to be subsidized by the Fund. The others are the HbA1C test, and the Breast Receptor Studies. The NHF highlights that the expansion of benefits on the programme will improve access, which is considered a major priority.
Shane Dalling, acting board chairman at the NHF, in his message said, “it is important to the Board of Management that we continue to revise our benefits so that we can stay relevant in an evolving health space. The addition of this benefit is another bold step towards advancing the NHF’s mandate of reducing the financial burden associated with healthcare in Jamaica.”
The NHF indicates that the prostate cancer-screening test once annually is subsidised by $1,600 with the NHF Card. They also share that currently, the test can be done at the Fleet Diagnostic Laboratory, Biomedical Laboratory and Central Medical Laboratory.
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