History of CCFP

The CCFP was formed in 1987 in Jamaica and formally inaugurated under Parliamentary Decree in that territory in May 1988. Subsequently, Chapters of the College were formed in Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua-Barbuda-Redonda, the Cayman Islands, Grenada & Cariacou, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Members have come from every Caribbean territory, including the Netherland Antilles, French West Indies and on the mainland in Belize, Guyana and Suriname. There are also overseas members in Canada, USA and the UK.

In 1992, at the Annual Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM our College was officially deemed a “Liaison Organization within CARICOM”.

Additionally, at the 10th Meeting of COHSOD-Ministers of Health and Social Services within CARICOM in 2004 we were officially accorded “Observer Status” within that grouping. (COHSOD or the Council for Human and Social Development was established in 2001 as one of four (4) “organs” that operate in conjunction with the CARICOM Secretariat specifically to advise the Conference of Heads of Government and the Community Council of Ministers within CARICOM on matters relating to health and social development).

We have been functioning as the representative of Caribbean-based Primary Care Medicine in CARICOM from 1992 until now, linking the delivery of primary medical care as family doctors to delivery of care in the public sector, bridging the gap between Family Medicine and Public Health, acting within the framework of the Caribbean Cooperation in Health Initiative (CCH) adopted in 1984.