The Progressive Liberal Party expresses disbelief and amazement that
five years after the Free National Movement government voted in favour
of the Progressive Liberal Party’s National Health Insurance scheme, and
then failing to implement the scheme upon becoming the government, they
now want to blame the PLP for their inaction.
The remarks by the Free National Movement regarding our record on
healthcare are clearly disingenuous. The record reflects that the PLP
introduced and passed legislation for the National Health Insurance
scheme after detailed consultation with industry stake-holders and
Bahamians in general during the 2002-2007 period. The legislation was
then passed in Parliament and voted on favourably by all FNM members,
including Hubert Ingraham, who spoke on behalf of that Party at the
time.
No doubt coerced by special interests, it was the FNM whose attitude
toward Universal Health Care for Bahamians changed. Like Urban Renewal,
this attempt to discredit the legacy of Perry Christie and his
Government, the Hubert Ingraham-led FNM government shelved the scheme
and determined that its full implementation was not in the interest of
the Bahamian people. Instead, it selected a portion of the full scheme
on prescription drugs and repackaged it leaving thousands of Bahamians
without hope of medical care when struck by serious illnesses. This has
resulted in the callous deaths of many Bahamians. Blood is on their
hands, and the last thing the FNM should be doing, is seeking to gain
political mileage from such a meaningful issue.
With regard to infant mortality rates, the PLP stresses that the
established policies governing the Maternal and Child Health Care in The
Bahamas were not altered from those left in place by the previous FNM
Government, namely:
• Free ante-natal services to all using the public health facilities.
• Mandatory HIV screening of pregnant females
• Free anti-retroviral medication and follow-up care for infected individuals.
The infant mortality rate is multi-faceted including:
1) patient access to ante-natal services by high risk persons,
2) patient compliance with established ante-natal protocols,
3) cultural and language barriers,
4) Human resource issues i.e. quality and quantity of professionals-nurses and physicians.
The infant mortality rate in our small nation is significantly
impacted by influxes of illegal migrants who may remain marginalized
from established healthcare protocols due to language and cultural
barriers.
The swing in infant mortality rates during 2002-2006 is not due to any
changes in political or public health policies.
We now ask the current FNM government to provide the results of the
investigation launched by the Ministry of Health into this matter and
also to release the infant mortality rates for the subsequent five years
(2006-2011).
The PLP made significant strides in healthcare and is proud of its
accomplishments during the Christie Administration of 2002-2007.
Those successes include the recruitment of approximately 500 nurses to
deliver more effective healthcare to the Bahamian public- a move
recognized in the Ministry of Health as an unprecedented model of
success which should have been sustained.
The support to the HIV/AIDS treatment programme under the PLP was an
unqualified success during the 2002-2007 period due to Government
subsidized programmes through the National AIDS Directorate, and the
partnership with the Clinton Foundation, PAHO and other International
Agencies. The programme was saluted by the United Nations (2006) as a
best practice model globally.
The PLP asks what are the current HIV/ AIDS statistics and do they
reflect continued improvements since 2006? The health and well being of
our people is not something which the PLP takes lightly.
Believe in The Bahamas
