The Tribune

DURING the FNM’s first Budget debate shortly after being elected this year, Cat island MP Philip “Brave” Davis was on his feet in the House of Assembly to defend his defeated government’s decision to award $11m in contracts to build three clinics in his Cat Island constituency. In fact it was significant that the contracts were awarded just before the May 10 election. In addition to clinics for Cat Island, contracts were also awarded for a clinic in Rum Cay and one for San Salvador, bringing the total cost to just under $14m for Mr Davis’ entire constituency.

This $14m was the cost of construction alone. It did not include the additional cost of providing the necessary medical equipment, doctors, nurses — of which there is now a serious shortage– or janitorial staff. All this, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands pointed out, threatened to consume funds urgently needed to improve the Princess Margaret Hospital and other New Providence based clinics. He admitted that he had a hard time justifying the $14m expenditure when he had real needs that affected thousands of Bahamians. Needs, he said, that he cannot solve for lack of funds.

Mr Davis took offence to Dr Sands’ questioning the spending of $14m on clinics for his district. “All Bahamians have the same rights as those in New Providence” to medical care, Mr Davis declared.

“The 80 people in Rum Cay, 72 in Ragged Island or the 700 in the Berry Islands all have the same rights as those in New Providence. They are all citizens. None has priority over the other,” Mr Davis declared, speaking like the true politician with one eye on the next election, thus failing to understand the broader picture for the good of the nation. However, Dr Sands with no funds to spare, has to decide between spending millions for Cat Island clinics which on average would see only six patients a day or going without funds needed, for example, to repair a leaking roof in the Coconut Grove clinic that sees over 12,000 patients a year. “They do an amazing job and have to do so with a roof that is leaking buckets every day,” said Dr Sands. But there are no spare funds to make the necessary repairs.

We agree with Mr Davis that the people of the Family Islands are entitled to the same medical care as those in Nassau, but if scarce funds are spent so foolishly on the show that Mr Davis proposes, then there will be no first class medical services for anyone in The Bahamas.

In growing up did Mr Davis’ elders ever advise him that to manage his affairs wisely he had to learn to “cut his coat according to his cloth”?

Well the cloth that Bahamians have been given is a coral-based archipelago of about 700 islands and islets and more than 2,000 cays or coral reefs. About 30 of these islands are inhabited. If it could have been one land mass, we would not be having this discussion, because the nation would be able to afford at least one first class, well equipped central medical compound to take care of the whole island. But Bahamians do not have that luxury, and instead of having politicians with one eye focused on their election advantage we need sound statesmen who will use our limited funds wisely and plan for the next generation.

Let’s just take Mr Davis for a walk down the halls of the Princess Margaret Hospital. To put it mildly, if some very sound decisions are not soon made this hospital is a major accident just waiting to happen. It was a blessing that Hurricane Irma passed us by because our hospital is not equipped to handle any major catastrophe.

The hospital’s halls are lined with patients, in varying stages of medical needs. They lie on gurneys —no beds available in the entire hospital - the numbers range from 15 to 30 patients on any given day. Then there are about 30 permanent residents who have been abandoned at the hospital because they have no one to take care of them. Young children also have been abandoned - no one willing to give them shelter. One has been there a year, another five years and yet another for nine years. They don’t need hospital care, they need parenting.

Then there is the Corey Newbold Ward, which looks like an abandoned building site - ceiling torn down, dust and rubble everywhere. Its reconstruction having been suspended because funds allocated to it were probably diverted to some dumb political venture to impress the public. The male surgical, paediatrics and maternity wards all in need of urgent structural attention — but money committed to do the reconstruction also has been diverted to other ventures. In all, 67 beds have been out of commission for many months. And then there is the “step down” clinic in the Critical Care block, at the end of which is a comfortable board room with a magnificent view of the town below and a large cruise ship in port. This section is indeed the PLP’s folly. This area was designed as a “step down” clinic for at least 20 beds. In fact, it was for urgently needed beds that the new Critical Care Unit was built. The unit was nearing completion when the Christie government was elected and the much needed space for these beds was reconfigured into plush offices. This decision alone should have stirred the wrath of the Bahamian people against PLP politicians. But the truth was again hidden from the public.

However, there is one very impressive looking section —the Neonatal Intensive Care unit. We understand that technically it can match, if not be regarded as superior to anything in the Caribbean. But even here there is a problem — a shortage of nurses.

What our archipelagic land needs is a first class, well endowed hospital in Nassau with satellite clinics throughout the islands – clinics that can provide primary care for a patient, backed up by a well equipped and staffed Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau to which more serious cases can be flown.

Also what is needed are leaders to take the initiative — not politicians — but statesmen who are dedicated to making the right decisions for what they believe to be best for the country and its people, and not for what they hope will secure their own political future.