The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian people must be educated on their responsibilities as National Health Insurance (NHI) stakeholders, a physician arguing that the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle as not been stressed enough in the reform discussion.

Speaking with Tribune Business, Dr Locksley Munroe, president of the Consultant Physicians Staff Association, said the Bahamas is currently faced with a  “tremendous” obesity problem.

“You have high blood pressure, sleep disorders, diabetes and others issues related to a patient’s obesity level,” he added. “Just a simple point of saying to people that you have to look after your health will make a tremendous difference with what you are going to be doing with National Health Insurance.”    

The Consultant Physicians Staff Association is one of nine healthcare and insurance industry bodies that this week unveiled an alliance that will develop an alternative to NHI, which they have continued to brand as “seriously flawed and unsustainable”.

The Alliance’s members include the Medical Association of the Bahamas; the Consultant Physicians Staff Association; the Bahamas Association of Physiotherapists; the Bahamas Doctors Union; the Bahamas Association of Medical Technologists; the Bahamas Association of Primary Care Physicians; the Bahamas Psychological Association; the Bahamas Insurance Association; and the Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association.

    “People need to register for NHI and pay their tax, which is something they are not saying. One way or the other there has to be a mechanism to pay for National Health Insurance. The greatest stakeholder is the public; they need to understand they have a tremendous responsibility to stay healthy, eat right and get your body mass index to normal. That’s where the public needs to be educated,” said Dr Munroe.