The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday criticised the government for the lengthy delays that stalled the full opening of the Princess Margaret Hospital’s Critical Care Block.

Dr Minnis said if the Christie-led administration “truly believed in Bahamians” they would have “accelerated the process and ensured it was completed a year ago”.

Dr Minnis was one of numerous political and healthcare dignitaries present at the government’s official commissioning ceremony of the CCB on Thursday.

The CCB, a project originally introduced by the FNM in 2011, was originally set to open in June 2013. However, a number of challenges had plagued it since its inception under the former Ingraham administration.

Prime Minister Perry Christie Thursday lauded the commissioning as a “high-water mark in our progress of a nation,” and a positive step towards the government’s proposed 2016 rollout of its $600m National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.

Speaking with The Tribune Friday, however, Dr Minnis expressed his disappointment with the commissioning. He said Mr Christie also has to explain where he will get the money for the government to jumpstart the NHI scheme.

“We’re very disappointed that the PLP had taken so long to open (the CCB), especially in view that they said they believe and care about Bahamians. It’s quite evident that they didn’t,” Dr Minnis told The Tribune. “We have been preaching repeatedly when we designed (the CCB), that it would relieve the waiting time in the emergency room, the bed situation, and especially the waiting time for surgical procedures, especially those coming from the Family Islands who are inconvenienced and on many occasions cancelled and must return home.

“If (the government) truly believed in Bahamians they would have accelerated the process and ensured that it was completed and opened a year ago as opposed to allowing and forcing Bahamians to suffer and endure the long waiting times for an additional year. That cannot be a government who believes and cares in Bahamians yet allows them to suffer for an unnecessary additional year.”

A number of challenges have plagued the Critical Care Block since its inception under the former Ingraham administration in 2011.

In July of last year, Public Hospital Authority (PHA) officials said the initial attempts at obtaining a $35 million loan from First Caribbean Bank, which was needed for funding the purchase of important medical equipment, had become “problematic.” The PHA also faced issues of insufficient staffing needed to operate the block, which further added to the delays.

Shortly afterwards in August, after PHA Managing Director Herbert Brown and the PHA became embroiled in a multi-million dollar dispute with Cavalier Construction, the company’s Managing Director Richard Wilson said that constant design changes – especially in the mechanical and electrical areas – had delayed completion.

Mr Wilson told Tribune Business that the Critical Care Block was supposed to have been a 20-month project to end in June 2013, but work was still required some 15 months later.

However, as reported by Tribune Business last year and confirmed by Mr Brown, the PHA had since “approved the $35 million loan for the procurement of the equipment, furniture and also management information systems”. He added at the time that the PHA was “very advanced” in its progress to open the facility.

At the commissioning ceremony Thursday, Mr Christie said while the project had “not been without challenge,” its commissioning was a reminder of “how far we have come in terms of the level and quality of healthcare that is available in our public institutions.”

He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring that “every citizen of the Bahamas has full access to quality care when they need it,” referring to the government’s proposed 2016 rollout of NHI.

Regarding the latter, however, Dr Minnis said the government needed to “explain to us and the Bahamian people where’s he’s going to get the $350m for phase one” of the NHI rollout.

“(Mr Christie) said that in 2016 he would roll out phase one,” Dr Minnis said. “We do not know what phase one entails, but he did state that phase one would cost $350 million. Already he has introduced VAT on the backs of Bahamian people and caused the cost of living to increase.

“We would love for Bahamians to receive the best possible care the world can offer. They deserve that. It would improve the quality of care. But at the same time (Mr Christie) must inform us where the $350 million that he’s anticipating for his rollout programme January 1 is coming from.”

According to Mr Christie, the CCB is the “single largest financial investment in the public health system,” costing the government over $50m in construction costs and $45m in medical equipment, management information systems and furniture.

NHI was first developed as a policy priority under the first Christie administration. A 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission was appointed to review the feasibility of a National Health Insurance Plan. The National Health Insurance Act 2006 was then tabled in Parliament by the Christie government on November 2006.

Last year Mr Christie said the government plans to introduce NHI in three stages. Stage I would cost $350-$360m, Stage II would cost $500m, and Stage III would cost over $600m.