The Tribune

THE Medical Association of the Bahamas has asked The Tribune to clarify its position on National Health Insurance as the heading over an article in Monday’s Tribune –“Endorsement for NHI is slammed as ‘deceptive’” – could have given the wrong impression. The Medical Association emphasised that it is not against universal healthcare. However, it denies that it has signed any Independent Provider Association (IPA) agreement as has been claimed.

In Monday’s article, it was reported that the Medical Association of the Bahamas (MAB) had denied, as had been claimed, that the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Bahamas Independent Provider Association (BIPA) had entered into a partnership with major healthcare providers or stakeholders to advance NHI discussions.

However, a statement released by MAB President Dr Sy Coolidge Pierre on Sunday said the recent press release from the TUC and the BIPA on the issue of an IPA to advance NHI was “distasteful and deceptive”.

“The recent BIPA statement,” said the MAB’s press release, “is both distasteful and deceptive, seeing that certain members of the organisation recently met with the major healthcare providers and were given a clear and unequivocal ‘no’ answer to their proposal. BIPA’s public statement that the ‘major physician provider groups…..signalled their commitment and agreement’ with the BIPA is an outright untruth.”

On Monday, Dr Pierre clarified his weekend statement, pointing out that major health professional groups and insurance providers are not a part of any IPA/BIPA agreement and they had given their reasons why.