Prime Minister Andrew Holness is urging Jamaican men to get screened for prostate cancer, once they are of the recommended age.

Holness made the appeal during the groundbreaking ceremony for the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) ring road rerouting project on Tuesday, February 20.

“We can’t emphasise it more than I am doing now. It [prostate cancer] affects all men. King Charles was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and we do send out our sympathies and hope for his recovery and treatment. But a lot of Jamaican men don’t take their healthcare seriously in this regard and the last statistics that I have seen continue to say that we have a very high incidence in the region of men reporting either enlarged prostate or being diagnosed with prostate cancer,” Holness lamented.

Prostate cancer is a type of cancer that develops in the prostate gland and occurs when the cells in the prostate gland begin to grow out of control.

In 2020, Jamaica recorded some 1,561 new cases of prostate cancer.

In February of last year, the National Health Fund the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test offering a subsidy of $1,600 for men to have their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test done once per year.

“That is why your caring government isn’t just talking about healthcare but we are providing you with a subsidy so if cost was the issue, I know there are other issues but if cost was the issue then we are providing you with a subsidy that will help to reduce the cost to you so please go and get tested. There is that specific test, the PSA test, I am encouraging all our men as you say you past 50, you don’t past certain things. You don’t past bathrooms and you don’t past the PSA test,” Holness said.

A PSA test is the primary test used to screen for prostate cancer, which measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen in the blood.

It is recommended that men begin prostate cancer screening at age 50, however, high-risk men may need to start as early as age 45.