Davis did nothing wrong

As of Friday, September 4, 2020

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The Bahamas continues to be inundated with COVID-19 infections. As of September 2, there were 2,337 confirmed cases on the COVID-19 Bahamas Dashboard, with 47 deaths and seven non-COVID deaths. With 14 deaths under investigation, the death toll could rise to 61.

The Bahamas has only recorded 849 recoveries. These numbers suggest that the country’s healthcare system is at its breaking point. At nearly 400,000 strong, the Bahamian population has outgrown its healthcare system. What we have today would’ve been adequate for The Bahamas in the 1970s. The problem is, we are now in 2020.

When it was announced by The Nassau Guardian and The Tribune on August 20 that Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip “Brave” Davis would be airlifted to the United States to receive treatment for his COVID-19 infection, some Bahamians expressed their strong disapproval of the move.

Apparently, they chose to interpret Davis’ decision as a lack of faith and confidence in Bahamian healthcare professionals and the entire healthcare system.

According to both aforementioned newspapers, Davis was cared for at Doctors Hospital – a private institution. Davis was gracious in commending the nurses and doctors at that institution for their services.

Obviously as a man of means, Davis made the calculated and smart decision to seek medical attention abroad. The hypothetical question for Davis’ detractors is this, if you had a brain haemorrhage, and you had extensive financial resources, would you go to the Princess Margaret Hospital or Cleveland Clinic in the United States? I would pick the latter without hesitation. I believe Davis’ detractors would do the same thing.

Doctors and nurses at the Princess Margaret Hospital and the Rand Memorial Hospital are dedicated professionals tasked with making blood out of stone.

They are overworked, underpaid, under equipped – and at times, under appreciated. Choosing to go abroad for medical care isn’t a searing indictment on these hardworking Bahamians and non-Bahamians.

Knowing the age-old perennial problems plaguing the Public Hospitals Authority, I wouldn’t blame anyone for opting to seek medical attention abroad.

At the end of the day, it’s their life. Davis was well within his rights to seek medical attention abroad. If he wanted to travel to Europe or Asia for medical help, it’s his business.

I don’t think we should politicise this man’s health.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

September 3, 2020.x

More like this story

mandela 4 years ago

Very honestly put, at the end of the day there is not one person in the Bahamas with such an opportunity that wouldn't make the same decision to ensure they receive the best possible chance for survival, given the fact his daughter is a specialist in the COVID-19 medical field.

tribanon 4 years ago

The writer once again completely misses the point. Most Bahamians could not care less how Davis spends his own money, assuming of course it was obtained and spent legally. But most Bahamians rightfully have a beef with current and past senior elected officials who have allowed our public healthcare system to become so terribly dysfunctional and inadequate through failed government policies and corruption.

And it's these same incompetent and corrupt senior elected officials who have the best health insurance that money can buy, all at the taxpayers' expense. Whereas they have the ability to obtain good healthcare abroad, the vast majority of Bahamians are stuck with the wholly unsatisfactory public healthcare system that they created for us by their very own neglect of our most vital needs. That in a nutshell is the real beef most of us have about Davis fleeing the Bahamas as he did.