The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands yesterday accused the former administration of going forward with the $6.6m upgrade to the Smith’s Bay Clinic in Cat Island despite a nearly 40 per cent decline in visits to clinics on that island in the past decade.

Dr Sands insisted the decision did not follow the advice of the ministry’s technical team, and projections show the expensive build-out of the clinic would have served an average five patients per day.

“I want you to imagine the build out of a clinic at a cost to the Bahamian people of $6.6m to see five patients a day,” he said.

“Now Cat Island, my ministry is prepared to ensure that all people in The Bahamas have access to excellent health care but it doesn’t mean we should build out expensive edifices that we can ill afford to maintain.”

Cat Island MP Philip Davis countered that the former minister would have been advised by the same technical team as Dr Sands, and at the time those recommendations were based not just on current data but the projected use given proposals for the island like the PGA tour. Mr Davis added that the utilisation and attendance numbers may be different if clinics were upgraded, noting that many persons do not visit clinics but instead travel to Nassau to seek care.

Dr Sands yesterday presented a stark account of the nation’s cash-strapped health system that has created an “untenable situation” in the distribution of services, particularly at public clinics.

He said the government had to seek $10m “emergency” funding from the National Health Insurance fund in order to pay for services made available by the Public Hospitals Authority, which he noted had been given the task of managing a number of capital projects unrelated to its remit and mandate.

He outlined millions of dollars worth of unpaid debts owed by the PHA for numerous facility projects across the islands.

Turning his attention to Eleuthera, Dr Sands called the previous administration’s decision to put a $27m clinic in Palmetto Point “the greatest of travesties”. The Palmetto Point clinic project was not managed by the PHA, he noted.

He said the cost of renovations to the mammography centre at the clinic would have cost less than $100,000, and because there was no facility the community had lost an opportunity to receive a donation of a mammogram machine from the American government.

“We are not in the slightest bit interested,” Dr Sands said, “when we look at these commitments to the Bahamian people, of disenfranchising any human being. What we do say is that the expenditure of the Bahamian people should make some sense, particularly when we realise that the total debt of every single Bahamian as of December 2017 was $20,000, owed by every man woman and child. So if we gonna be spending money…but yet we do need to provide the best service that we can afford.”

Dr Sands presented a portion of his mid-year budget contribution before the evening session was suspended.

He said his ministry has received 11.5 per cent of its budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal period, which amounted to some $207.6m.

Of this amount, Dr Sands said $48.7m went to the Ministry of Health, $5m went to the department of Public Health, $41.6m for the PHA and $40m set aside for the first time by any government for NHI.

He said for the first six months, the Department of Public Health has spent 84 per cent of funds released, the PHA has spent 96 per cent of funds released, and the NHI administration has committed $14.15m.