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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 Dear Editor,
The newspapers have been filled with articles on the government’s plan to introduce National Health Insurance in a matter of months which will mean another tax on the citizens, which is cause for much concern. In a similar vein as the folly of BAMSI and of COB attempting to transition into a University, – we are trying to run before we have even begun to creep!
Dr Robin Roberts provided an excellent insight into the situation several months ago. Have we paid attention? The Coalition for a Better Health System is also making so much sense and it seems as if the relevant authorities are refusing to listen! Why can’t we strive for excellence in getting what we have, no matter how small, right first, before leaping off the precipice to do something we are not adequately prepared to do?
PMH has a lot to be proud of, but it is also sorely lacking in so many different ways – the delayed opening of the new Critical Care Block being but another glaring example! PMH in its present configuration is already providing national health services. Has anybody bothered to check how much money is hemorrhaging daily from that institution, and from the clinics, as they continue to provide care as best they can with the limited resources that they have, to a large majority of the citizens? So if you are planning to at least quadruple your numbers of patients and the basic infrastructure still isn’t right, imagine how that is going to further negatively impact efficiency, capacity, supplies, personnel etc?
What about catastrophic illnesses, which The Bahamas is famous for? I have not heard any mention of a cap, i.e. limiting the amount of money being spent on each individual for health services rendered. Just one cancer/heart/dialysis/car accident patient requiring intensive treatment modalities can strip the monetary reserves of the fund within the blink of an eye! Even private insurances have a limit to funding, so what is NHI proposing to do in those instances?
What about those persons who have private insurance? The health insurance companies need to be concerned as they are going to lose business in a big way when their rates increase significantly, thanks to VAT, come July! So is taxing the citizens going to be cost effective when insurance companies lose clients, and then have to lay off staff, who will then become an additional burden on the state?
Are we listening to the Coalition – the experts on the ground, in the country, who have been providing these services for decades – and taking advice and direction from them? Forty one years after Independence and we are still relaying on the ‘foreign expert’ to tell us what to do – so sad - same story, different day!
Come on Bahamas, are we listenin’ or hearin’? Question the obvious, exercise common sense, own our own, and see what we lookin’ at!
Yours sincerely,
Pam Burnside
Disclaimer:
The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her
private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of
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