The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH care providers yesterday said they were still awaiting word on when the proposed Medical Care Improvements Bill would be implemented, the minister responsible for the sector saying he was awaiting the accompanying regulations but unsure where they were.

Barry Rassin, president of BISX-listed Doctors Hospital Health System, told Tribune Business the cost of importing medical equipment was a big issue within the health care sector.

"Lowering the cost of importing medical equipment is a very big issue. I haven't heard anything official on the Bill as yet. It's extremely important legislation," he said.

When asked whether he was optimistic about the legislation being enacted in the near future, he said: "I never have any anticipation of government. They have to do their thing. You can't think about it too much."

Head of The Medical Pavilion Bahamas, and a heart specialist, Dr Conville Brown, told Tribune Business: "I'm not sure whether it's coming or not, but I am going to apply for it. Hopefully it does happen. It's very important that it does happen."

In the Budget Communication for 2011-2012, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced that the Government was seeking "to encourage the development and improvement of medical care in this country" through legislation that will make it cheaper for individuals to invest in new, or refurbish old, medical facilities and import medical equipment.

The Medical Care Improvement Bill 2011 is intended to allow the Government to "enter into agreements with entrepreneurs in the medical care field who want to invest in new medical care facilities, such as hospitals and multi-specialty medical facilities, or in major refurbishment of such facilities" to import building materials and medical equipment duty free.

Under the Bill, the Government will also grant a five-year Customs duty exemption to the Public Hospitals Authority and the National Insurance Board for the purchase of building materials and medical equipment in relation to medical care facilities.

Speaking with Tribune Business on the status of the Bill, the minister of health, Dr Hubert Minnis, said: "The regulations have to be brought forward. I couldn't say where the regulations are right now, I would have to check. We would have written to Doctor's Hospital, the Medical Association and Medical Council for input, and we got input from them."

He also noted that Dr Bernard Nottage, P{LP MP for Bain and Grant's Town, had indicated he wanted to have input on the Bill in Parliament, but it had not been brought up again.

In a recent Letter to The Tribune, urging support of the Bill, anesthesiologist Dr Barrett McCartney said the lack of support "puts us on track to remain stuck in the past with out-dated technology and retrograde thinking that will ensure that dynamic entrepreneurs in the medical sector will never choose the Bahamas for future investments".

Mr McCartney said: "The creation of incentives and a welcoming climate for investment in the medical sector would put us on track to compete with other medical tourism destinations, and ensure that the Bahamas continues to draw the majority of the investment money that is available. Failure to approve the Bill will surely shift those investments elsewhere or stall them forever."