The Tribune

AMONG the Christie administration's "extraordinary failures and wasteland of broken promises" was the abandonment of the Bahamian people on health care, the governing FNM said.

The party noted that on April 4, 2002, opposition leader Perry Christie declared: "I want to create a system of National Health Insurance so that poor people will stop dying simply because they are too poor to pay for medical attention. This is the greatest national disgrace of all. How can we call ourselves a caring, compassionate society when the difference between whether a young child lives or dies depends on whether he or she is covered by private health insurance or not; or whether the parents have money to pay for the operation or not.

"That such a situation still exists in our country is a stain on the social conscience that must be removed. And it will be removed under my administration because the PLP will treat the introduction of National Health Insurance as a matter of the most urgent priority."

The FNM noted that the opposition also promised in its 2002 manifesto to: "Put in place a system of National Health Insurance so that every Bahamian will have insurance coverage for major surgery and other medical services" and "improve maternal-child health services to reduce the unacceptably high infant mortality rate."

However, according to the governing party, when they actually got in power, "the PLP failed to deliver a single component of National Health Insurance and infant mortality rates rose significantly while they were in office after having significantly declined during previous FNM administrations."

Again, the FNM noted, the opposition in 2002 promised to: "transform the hospital (PMH), the flagship for the entire health care system, into the first class care facility that it has the potential to become," and to "modernise the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre" and develop a regional hospital in Exuma. But, the party noted, "All of these promises were broken."

The statement said: "The FNM has introduced a national prescription drug benefit and will extend it to all workers and their families.

"The FNM will introduce catastrophic health insurance.

"The FNM is transforming health care facilities across the country, including the Princess Margaret Hospital, the Rand Memorial in Grand Bahama and the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre.

"The FNM has started plans for hospitals in Abaco and Exuma, and will build hospitals in Eleuthera and Long Island."