Former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands and Opposition leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Tribune Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
THE government’s approach to tackling COVID-19 is not working - according to both former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands and Opposition leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis.
Dr Sands said the country should be conducting 1,000 COVID-19 tests daily and seek to build a modular centre where people infected with the virus are concentrated to reverse The Bahamas’ underperformance in handling the pandemic.
Dr Sands said there are challenges with access to medical care — including availability of ventilators and operating rooms compounded by a manpower shortage. This is due to the splitting of care at health facilities, leaving resources stretched thin.
Dr Sands presented several recommendations at Parliament yesterday, telling members the process over the past six to eight months has not worked.
Meanwhile, official Opposition leader Philip “Brave” Davis charged that the country has become a case study of how not to manage a public health crisis.
Mr Davis said failure had become the hallmark of the government’s fight against COVID-19.
Dr Sands, meanwhile, said while he supports the government, he does not stand behind its intention to extend the state of the emergency to November 30.
“I would say respectfully that the process that we have engaged in over the last six to eight months has not worked,” Dr Sands told the House of Assembly.
“We are underperforming as a nation. We are underperforming relative to all of our peers in the region.
“I spend a lot of time taking care of COVID patients. It is a privilege. On Saturday I operated on three. Tomorrow I will operate on two. It is something that is my duty as a physician and so when I speak about some of the challenges, it is not to lambaste. It is not to denigrate.
“We need to be talking to each other, listening to each other. Not shouting and rowing and screaming at each other because the lives of the people of the country is at stake. The economy of this country is at stake. We don’t need to (be) bickering and shouting and talking about FNM and PLP and DNA, we need to be working together to solve this problem.”
He also said: “We have challenges with people accessing healthcare services right now. We have challenges with people getting access to ventilators, challenges getting access to the operating room. Every single person who goes into the hospital should be tested. That does not happen now, Mr Speaker. Not in the public sector. Every single person should be tested.”
Regarding testing, Dr Sands said this aspect needed to be increased.
“When we look at testing and yes with the assistance of the private sector and their hard work, the National Reference Lab, we have definitely increased our testing. We did 279 tests the other day, 19 percent of them were positive. That means we’re not testing enough. A positivity rate of 19 percent means you are not testing enough.
“It’s when, if you look (at) the World Health Organisation data, when you get five percent consistently over two weeks you can say with certainty that you are testing enough and if you are testing and you have a positivity rate of five percent or less and your number of positives are not going up, only then can you say that your pandemic is under control.
“And so what is the message for the people of this country? The message is ‘assume every single person that you come into contact with is COVID positive’.
“Mr Speaker, what we ought to be doing right now is to build a modular COVID facility at a place outside of Princess Margaret Hospital, outside of Doctors Hospital so that we can concentrate the care. How many beds? I don’t know. Maybe 150 beds. We can ask for direct relief, we can ask some of the other NGOs to assist us in building a modular facility that is robust where we can have an intensive care unit, operating rooms so that we can reduce the splitting of care.
“And what does that do? It means that the hospital is stretched. It means that the staff is stretched. It means that ordinary people coming in for heart attacks and strokes, diabetes and kidney failure cannot get care. That is happening in this country today.”
Last week, a 28-bed tent facility went into operation on the grounds of Princess Margaret Hospital. The temporary facility, set up by international NGO Samaritan’s Purse, treats COVID patients.
Other recommendations by the former minister included publishing a plan quickly and educating the public along with “properly” conducting lockdowns.
He said as it stands the current administration of lockdowns has harmed businesses and caused desperation among citizens.
Further he said there should be an effort to bring back participatory government with a view to ceasing in person Cabinet and Parliamentary meetings, using virtual means instead.
Dr Sands told Parliament he also believed it was time to put an end to the competent authority. Under COVID-19 Emergency Powers Orders Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is the competent authority, which gives him sweeping powers during the state of emergency.
The Elizabeth MPs said gyms should be reopened, adding the government also needed to tap into the medicinal capabilities of “bush medicine” (herbal remedies). He said there needed to be an immediate effort to explore this option and have it patented.
There should also be a focus on improving food security and a reversal of the ban on mask importation, so there is access to better quality masks.
“I end by hoping that my brothers and sisters in here understand that this presentation was given on the basis to speak truth in love. Elizabeth will not support the extension, but Elizabeth supports the government of the Bahamas,” Dr Sands said.
Comments
themessenger 4 years ago
Dr. Sands, the healthcare facilities are exactly what you provided when you presided over them, nothing has changed other than your departure. Any shortcomings in this area should be laid right at your feet. Now you and Brave of all people tag teaming up on the government? They say politics makes strange bedfellows, they also say that birds of a feather flock together. Do you really want to be tarred with that brush??
tribanon 4 years ago
And let's not forget that Minnis, a medical doctor no less, also did absolutely diddly-squat to improve the public healthcare system when he was minister of health under the last Ingraham-led administration. Minnis's appointment of Renward Wells as minister of health really says all there is to say about how little Minnis cares about our public healthcare system.
joeblow 4 years ago
Sands is just a talking head who is trying to use this situation to score a few political points. In reality this country should have had a pandemic response protocol after the SARS pandemic. If we did they, would not be running around like chickens with their heads cut off wasting time, energy and lives repeating the same mistakes.
So this is a failure at multiple levels from: 1) the Ministry of Health (in particular Public Health) who should have had an implementable pandemic plan with adequate staff to mobilize, 2) using one kind of test only, when there are different kinds of tests that serve different purposes, 3) the competent authority who seems not to have advisors or if he does, should have fired them 5 months ago 4) the population of the Bahamas who has to start requiring more from their elected leaders.
We are to blame for electing incompetent people to lead this country every five years!
KapunkleUp 4 years ago
"We are to blame for electing incompetent people to lead this country every five years! - I agree with you 100% but what are you going to do when your only two choices are herpes and gonorrhea?
joeblow 4 years ago
... communities should reject candidates who offer themselves. For instance if Minnis decides to run again, the people in his constituency (PLP's and FNM's) should have peaceful protest marches everyday until he withdraws!
But I agree with your point that we need 3rd and 4th choices.
tribanon 4 years ago
And when it comes to incompetent people, Minnis is at the very top of the list!
JokeyJack 4 years ago
You should add point 5). The contagious spread of Belly-Swell-Itis around this country. The people are breeding faster than the government can make provisions for their welfare. Also, we still waiting on that radar in Inagua, from "that time." Even if Bahamians slow down on breeding, the southerners race in to fill the gaps. I'm hearing that is happening now more than ever. Wages will remain LOW when employers have the ability to pick choose & refuse.
The church likes the word "abstinence", but it is time for them to expand their vocabulary, and it is way past time that the government make a specific law against not hiring illegals instead of relying on the "harbouring" clause.
KapunkleUp 4 years ago
As usual Chicken Davis is loud and full of hot air. It's easy to criticize when that's all you're doing. Not presenting a detailed plan on what he would do is proof that he is as clueless as everyone else.
Honestman 4 years ago
Let's face it, the whole world has been "caught with its pants down" on COVID. That's not to excuse government's poor management of the crisis here in The Bahamas. We could and should have done better.
joeblow 4 years ago
Taiwans response was probably the best in the world, because they had a plan after SARS, so not everyone was caught with their pants down. But this country ALWAYS has its pants down!
stillwaters 4 years ago
Sands and Davis........jeez......never thought I'd see the day, but desperate men do desperate things.
stillwaters 4 years ago
He should have stayed and voted no if that was his stand on the matter. I figure the other 24 absents might have been given the chance to vote remotely. The members that wanted to vote no and didn't are probably afraid that if their vote carried and the country was opened wide again, Covid numbers would explode and they would be blamed. They want one leg on each side of the fence. Suck my teet...........
John 4 years ago
One of the most laughable things said lately was when Dr Fauci said the corona virus is still in its first wave because even though there are surges and declines. There hasn’t been a case where the cases have gone all the way back down to zero, Eell Dr Fauci you’re wrong. That’s like saying if you’re out on the high seas, there are no waves because you can’t see no sand. But the fact is if you look at the world graph for corona cases and deaths, threre are three clear and distinct waves. If you look at the graphs for individual Countries or individual US States you can see clear, distinct waves. The graph for China had a definite wave at the beginning that was flattened and continues to remain flat with daily cases under 20. The problem with the United States is there was never a harmonious, unified effort to combat the disease , the effort was politics against science and state bs state. And as the lockdowns and curfews became territorial in The Bahamas, the numbers for each island have started moving in opposite directions
trueBahamian 4 years ago
Dr. Sands is trying to take a major step politically. Putting that aside for a second, he's right to speak to what is happening and to give some suggestions.
This really isn't the time for flashing party colors. As one country, we need to sort this problem out. Brave is right that the government has failed. But, after you point that out, give some suggestions to fix the situation.
Testing, testing ,testing and more testing will be th e inky way out of this crisis. Lockdowns with increased resting is just further destroying the economy. Get it right PM!
FrustratedBusinessman 4 years ago
The FNM need to hurry up and hold the convention that they have been delaying for a while now. It is very clear that Sands holds Prime Ministerial ambitions, and they need to hurry up and let him and Minnis battle it out for leadership of the FNM.
The constant negative press generated by comments such as these (I noticed the frequency has increased lately) only serves to illustrate how dis-unified the party is, and makes the incumbent government look very weak. They are not helpful at all, and it needs to stop one way or the other.
I say let him and Minnis battle it out : winner take all, loser goes home. If he feels that he can do better, let him throw his name in the ring and be done with it. Let the party choose who they want to lead them, and let the loser shut up. We need to come together under one accord in times like these, this is not the time for political games.
joeblow 4 years ago
A better idea is for government ministers to vote no against extending the emergency orders to the end of November. Encourage Minnis to resign and let a new leader emerge other than Sands. If either Minnis or Sands wins, the country is guaranteed to lose. Power should never be given to those who crave it!
John 4 years ago
So what is the rationale behind wanting the PM to terminate the emergency powers at the height of a pandemic? Y’all say y’all have a better plan? Y’all can’t be serious!
John 4 years ago
So how many hours have passed and The Tribune didn’t realize or fix the upside down banner at the top of this page?
SP 4 years ago
We have ALWAYS underperformed, come dead last in everything, and been ass-backward. The only thing Bahamas excels in is systemic corruption, and asinine political stupidity!
No one should be acting surprised.
jamaicaproud 4 years ago
If only these useless leaders would collaborate with other Carib countries who though not perfect, have been very effective in mitigating the spread. But naw. No foreign influence in this hear Bahamaland.
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