The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

WITH registration for the government’s National Health Insurance plan to start this month, Prime Minister Perry Christie said the nation should expect a “major public relations campaign” to be launched in “short order”.

He said in early 2016, the government will also develop a healthy lifestyle programme for the country.

Speaking to reporters at the New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade, Mr Christie also said NHI is not considered a “do all, end all approach” to universal healthcare. He said NHI would be “simply one small component” in an overarching scheme to address the nation’s health woes.

“We are going ahead with NHI,” he said.

“We are going to keep the Bahamian people informed on this project. You can expect in short order a major public relations campaign, more so a public information campaign to ensure that persons are well aware, nationwide, on what’s going to happen, how it is going to happen and how it is going to benefit them.”

He said NHI officials have already drafted application forms for the scheme and are now preparing the process of disseminating the forms nationwide.

The nation’s leader insisted that in order for the National Health Insurance plan envisioned by his administration to succeed, Bahamians have to buy into it and believe that the plan can, over time, address their health needs “comprehensively and efficiently”.

Mr Christie said his government has a vision of what NHI can be. Once that vision is made clear to the general public the concerns being raised by those that oppose the scheme will “eventually be changed,” he added.

“Healthcare, what we are doing here will only succeed once people are participating and people will only take part if they know and understand how important this is to them and so no matter the cost, it is important that our people are informed about this process and see the positives it can present in time.”

“When we look at the incidents of diseases in this country, particularly non-communicable diseases and you hear statistics that point out that we are the worst in the Caribbean; then one can say that something is dead wrong with that picture. Incidents of that nature contribute to unnecessary deaths to large a figure. We are proposing National Health Insurance as a part of overall health reform and that is what it is going to be.

“We will be dedicating a substantial amount of money to improving the health of The Bahamas. As a part of that, we will look to incorporate a number of health programmes within our local schools. Also, in the early stages of 2016 we will look to develop a national healthy lifestyle programme for the country. But it has to start with education and information for our people.”

The first phase of NHI will be composed of registration and upgrades to public health facilities. Primary health coverage is expected to come on stream in April 2016.

The government has still not revealed how much NHI will cost or exactly how it will be funded in the long-term.