The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A private healthcare institution was in The Tribune bragging about its $7m-plus revenue intake from the 100,000 COVID-19 tests it conducted in 2020. When told that her impoverished subjects lacked bread, the 18th century French Queen Mary Antoinette is alleged to have replied that they should be given cake. Sharp-witted Bahamians will immediately wonder why I mentioned Marie Antoinette.

About two weeks after the aforementioned healthcare provider’s superfluous statement to the media, the Ministry of Health revealed that an additional 17 Bahamians succumbed to the coronavirus, pushing the total number of casualties to 273. COVID-19 has not only exacted a heavy physical toll on the Bahamian people, but also a massive financial one as well. Indeed, the National Insurance Board has doled out well over $250 million in financial benefits to thousands of unemployed Bahamians since March 2020. That amount underscores the dire financial crisis that has gripped The Bahamas, which helped in pushing our national debt to $10 billion.

My point in stating all this is that the private healthcare provider’s revelation to The Tribune comes off as being totally insensitive to the dire plight of Bahamians during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am not begrudging the medical entity’s COVID-19 financial windfall. But at a time when so many Bahamians are either sick or are dead or financially ruined because of COVID-19, bragging about earning millions from this virus shows an utter lack of discretion and a lack of human empathy.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

July 18, 2021.