The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known physician yesterday questioned whether the Minister of Health had been “thrown under the bus” by what her described as the Prime Minister’s “hostile takeover” of the National Health Insurance (NHI) implementation process.

Dr Duane Sands, the former FNM Senator, queried whether the decision to move responsibility for NHI from the Ministry of Health to a steering committee, headed by senior civil servant, Peter Deveaux-Isaacs, was akin to “a vote of no confidence” in Dr Perry Gomez.

And, while agreeing that the Prime Minister was “dead on” in his confession about a ‘confusing debate’ over NHI, Dr Sands said the problem was arising entirely from Mr Christie’s office.

“I think he spoke truth, except the confusion is all arising from the Government,” he told Tribune Business. “The Prime Minister was dead on, but the confusion has arisen out of his office.

“Not only is the Medical Association of the Bahamas and the insurance industry involved in a confusing discussion, but the entire NHI team has been thrown into disarray.”

Dr Sands continued: “The hostile takeover by the Prime Minister of the NHI project, throwing the Minister of Health and other team members under the bus, seems to be a very interesting development.

“Do whom do we speak now? Does the Prime Minister value the opinion of the Minister of Health with respect to NHI? It seems awfully suspicious that portfolio responsibility was taken away. Was that a vote of no confidence? Do we speak only to the Prime Minister and the recently appointed man with responsibility for NHI, Peter Deveaux-Isaacs?”

Sources close to private sector representatives who have met with Mr Deveaux-Isaacs have told Tribune Business that Mr Christie switched responsibility for NHI from Dr Gomez and Dr Glen Beneby, the chief medical officer, due to concerns about the rate of progress towards implementation on January 1, 2016.

They added that Mr Deveaux-Isaacs, who has been in the post for three-four weeks, had a great deal of “catching up” to do on issues that have already been much aired.

And contacts close to the Medical Association of the Bahamas (MAB) have lamented the poor communication between key government agencies, especially the Ministry of Health and the steering committee and Mr Deveaux-Isaacs. This, in turn, is further causing anxiety and uncertainty among the Bahamian medical profession.

Dr Sands, meanwhile, suggested the Government was adopting a “damn the torpedoes” approach to NHI implementation, and queried whether it was seeking to achieve a “political objective” as opposed to improving the quality of Bahamian healthcare.

Noting that roughly 10 weeks were left before the start of NHI registration, he told Tribune Business: “We find ourselves in a very interesting situation with precious little time, and we have this massive overhaul being undertaken again.”

He suggested that the Government’s attitude appeared to be: “We need to get something on the books by January; whether we get it right or not is immaterial, as long as we get something on the books.

“We’ll worry about the details, whether it makes sense or not, once we have something we can call NHI.”

Dr Sands added that the MAB was “tried and frustrated” over the wait for questions it had long-raised over NHI.

And the “tone and content of the writing and utterances” of the Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA) also indicated that sector’s frustration and unhappiness with the NHI process.

“The Government believes it’s going to take a decision despite the evidence and concerns of people providing the service,” Dr Sands told Tribune Business.

“It makes you wonder what’s driving this. Is it about driving the quality of care, or achieving a political objective?”