Prime Minister Perry Christie
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
A NOTED surgeon has insisted that Prime Minister Perry Christie is desperate to create and leave behind a legacy when he took over leadership of the committee appointed to plan and execute the implementation of National Health Insurance in January 2016.
Former Free National Movement Senator Dr Duane Sands, in an interview with The Tribune, further questioned whether Mr Christie lacked confidence in his Minister of Health Dr Perry Gomez to ensure National Health Insurance (NHI) successfully comes into force. NHI was originally in Dr Gomez’s National Health portfolio, before Mr Christie moved it to his own.
Dr Sands maintained his doubts that the Christie administration would be able to meet its self-imposed time line for NHI.
Prime Minister Perry Christie recently told reporters he has decided to take a more hands on approach in dealing with the new health scheme as January approaches.
Dr Sands said: “The prime minister in my opinion is really fighting for some kind of legacy by this move. But one has to wonder whether Mr Christie as the prime minister is taking over a major programme such as NHI because he lacks confidence in his minister of health to execute this complicated initiative.
“It certainly would seem unusual or peculiar that you would make this serious choice in leadership in the 11th hour.”
Asked if he was of the belief that the government is on track to meet its deadline, Dr Sands said: “There is no chance in a warm place under the Earth for the implementation to happen in January 2016.
“They are going to begin registration and perhaps we could only speculate how long that could take. But for example, imagine voter registration which takes about 18 months. With voter registration we are not even talking about as many people as NHI registration. There is going to be a verification process and the government will have to ensure a fairly robust information technology system just to put it into perspective on how long that process alone could take.”
Last week, Chief Medical Officer Dr Glen Beneby said while the health scheme will be launched in January 2016, preparations to improve every aspect of the country’s health system will continue far beyond the implementation date.
Dr Beneby said health officials are now in full preparedness mode and have agreed on what is to be done with around 80 per cent of the health care system’s existing challenges.
At the time he said: “We believe that we would have completed enough to be in a state to launch in January 2016 but the preparation will have to continue long after that time.
“We are now in preparedness mode and have engaged all of the stakeholders so they are aware of what’s happening. We have agreed on about 80 per cent of the outstanding matters, but the remaining 20 per cent are more challenging issues and I think this will consume much of our attention with the stakeholders in the next three months.
“In terms of the health system strengthening, we are well on the way and we shall be prepared for the launch in January with a significant improvement in the system.”
The government has said NHI will be phased in over a five-year period. The Christie administration has allocated $60m for NHI in the current fiscal year.
Mr Christie recently told reporters that Peter Deveaux Isaacs has been appointed as permanent secretary of NHI.
Comments
jus2cents 9 years, 2 months ago
Well his dream will come true, and as the Minister of Finance his Legacy will be Very Much remembered. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2015/sep…
B_I_D___ 9 years, 2 months ago
Such a great legacy that even the unions that manage the government run agencies and employees don't want their members to have to depend on government based national health. I say that a mandate is put out there that if NHI becomes a reality, that no government employee is 'subsided' to get any more additional health benefits except for those provided by the government run and funded NHI. All such perks in existing union contracts should be expunged.
B_I_D___ 9 years, 2 months ago
...and that goes for ALL offices...including the office of the Prime Minister...
countryfirst 9 years, 2 months ago
Let's get PMH in order before we begin to discuss NHI.
Honestman 9 years, 2 months ago
"The government has said NHI will be phased in over a five-year period".
NO IT WON'T because this government won't be in power that long. The new administration will stop this nonsense right in its tracks. The country needs to improve the current public healthcare system NOT destroy the private health system out of spite. Mr. Christie, your days are numbered as PM, make the best of the time you have left and don't try and destroy what little is working in this country, a country that you and your cohorts are trying desperately to suck the life blood from as your depart.
realfreethinker 9 years, 2 months ago
I could not have said it better Honestman
sheeprunner12 9 years, 2 months ago
Perry has served in every Ministry since 1977 ......... tell him to name his achievements in each Ministry in all those years ............... he will find it hard to do so
baldbeardedbahamian 9 years, 2 months ago
The first NHS was introduced in Britain after the 2nd world war. It is now failing with cost overruns in the billions. For the most part clients of the system do not have access to the latest pharmaceuticals as they are more expensive. Britain now has the worst cancer survival rates in Europe. If you need to be on blood thinners, then warfarin is proscribed, doctors in the US have moved on from this treatment years ago. The problem, as with most state run enterprises is too many beaurocrats in relation to the doctors who actually do the work. Most, and I mean most, Bahamians are lazy and greedy so we have one of the highest ratios of overweight and obesity in the world. This makes for a very sick population getting sicker every year. Many of our leaders in the churches and in politics are obese and will get sick much sooner than if they ate a more moderate diet. Even our PM is clinically obese. Sick people like this do not make leaders as their judgement is impaired. Why we tax tobacco and not sugar is a major question that no one has asked. Do any of our political leaders send their children to state run schools? How many will send them send them to state run medical facilities? (Papa the exception). The other problem with a bus system is that modern medicine can keep most patients alive for years and years if someone can afford to pay for it. There will be hard decisions to make as to who lives and for how long. I understand that parents of disabled children worry greatly about who will Care for their offspring after their death. This might be coming in to play in this situation.
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