The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Government’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) plan is “not ready for prime time”, according to a well-know physician, who believes it does not address the real problems facing the Bahamian healthcare system.

Dr Duane Sands, addressing Tuesday night’s NHI town meeting, said the scheme is not goling to work, especially given that stakeholders only received a copy of the NHI Bill this week.

“The plan they put together is not ready for prime time,” he said. “Despite the haste and the rush, this isn’t the plan that is going to work.

“ I share the vision of NHI, and I imagine that most truly patriotic Bahamians do as well. We are not opposed to the concept of NHI. I think we will support a properly conceived, realistic plan that results in tangible improvements that are sustainable, and improves the quality of healthcare for Bahamians. As much as this plan has signalled a step in the right direction, this isn’t the plan that’s ready.”

Dr Sands added: “The plan does not answer the real problems facing the heathcare system. We have not arrived at a uniquely Bahamian solution to a Bahamian problem.

“Bahamians are already receiving universal health care. I support universal health care, I support NHI and I think that it should happen. We have peculiar problems of funding, problems of access, real problems with quality, and all of these need to be addressed.”

Dr Sands said that the issue of wastage in the public healthcare system has not yet been addressed. Dr Glen Beneby, the chief medical officer, admitted during an NHI discussion last November that around $100 million, or 25-30 per cent of the Government’s annual healthcare spending, is wasted.

“We have not addressed the problem of waste. We have not equipped or supplied our facilities with the types of materials and support services needed in a modern day health care system,” Dr Sands said.

“We have not ramped up our facilities in order to cope with the real problem of violence and trauma we have to deal with every day. Our public health infrastructure doesn’t have enough MRI machines, adequate CT scanning, sufficient operating rooms. There are major service inefficiencies.”

Felicia Knowles, the Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association’s (BIBA) president, said the organisation does not support NHI’s current model, especially the introduction of a public insurer and the absence of financials detailing how much the scheme will cost.

“They have not defined the benefits. They are over promising to potentially under deliver,” she said. “Our concern is that we have 50 per cent of the population already insured. There is another 50 per cent that is uninsured. Why decimate an entire industry to add the other 50 per cent?”

Mrs Knowles added that if the Government had wanted to engage the healthcare industry and public to make NHI’s introduction successful, it would have done so last year January.

“Everyone needs to put their egos aside. We have the expertise in the private sector. Let’s utilise this expertise,” said Ms Knowles.