The Tribune

THE implementation of National Health Insurance for the Bahamas remains a top priority for the government, Minister of Health Dr Perry Gomez said.

“Tertiary healthcare is expensive and it ruins the lives of families when people have to spend all they have to try and save one individual and it should not be that you have to invest your life’s savings for healthcare in the twilight or the prime of your life and so we need to remedy that for our country and our people,” Dr Gomez said.

“I have always been of the opinion that a social health insurance programme is most needed by those fellow Bahamians who cannot afford private healthcare,” Dr Gomez said.

Dr Gomez said his ministry and its agencies (Department of Public Health, Public Hospitals Authority) are mandated to ensure that there is universal access to health services.

He said in order to achieve the goals outlined in the National Health Services Strategic Plan 2010-2020 (equity in health, provision of quality healthcare, promoting wellness and addressing determinants of health), there must be national health insurance.

The Strategic Plan, Dr Gomez said, will serve as the “road map for my ministry and comes at a critical period as we implement the development agenda of the government of the Bahamas”.

The NHSSP has several goals, including: inter-sectoral action for protecting and improving health; integrated, people-centred services focused on maintaining health; improved use of information for decision-making; a strengthened health workforce; optimal use of health technologies, facilities, infrastructure and supplies; accountable leadership and governance, and a sustainable health system.

“We will strive to correct the current disparities in healthcare especially for the residents of the Family Islands,” Dr Gomez said. “The plan, when implemented, will prepare this administration to introduce a social health insurance which is a priority for the government and is most needed by fellow Bahamians.”

Services in the national health system are currently provided at minimal cost to the Bahamian populace as almost all costs are bourne by the government.

Dr Gomez said a national health insurance programme would generate additional funds that would “alleviate the burden on the national purse and provide the resources for improved and expanded health services to our people in the clinics and hospitals”.