The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Kindly permit me to offer my comments in respect to remarks made by the Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville that the Public Health Clinics will be going cashless.

To say that I am disappointed is an understatement.

The last place I would have expected the government to implement a no cash policy is at a public health care facility. It would be a tragedy if such a policy is also implemented in the Family Islands.

The government ought to know full well that such a policy will present hardship for many indigents and further marginalise the elderly and the unbanked.

There should be no obstacles, economic or otherwise, placed in the way of citizens seeking access to services offered by a public facility, especially services at a public facility, providing publicly funded health care.

If an individual wants to pay for services using cash or a debit or credit card, it should be the individual’s choice. And this should be the case at all government facilities.

An individual seeking medical attention at a health care facility should not be required to go to a private vending machine to convert cash into a voucher to receive medical attention. Health care is not a service to be accessed through a vending machine. This is just plain insensitive and wrong.

The fact that a government agency is incapable of policing or handling cash is no excuse to restrict the public choice of payment. If a department is having difficulty managing or accounting for cash transactions, the first remedy is to improve its internal controls and accounting and if there is evidence to support theft, then prosecute.

Because a particular payment method requires greater administrative effort and security does not in my view warrant the wholesale elimination of its use or acceptance.

And simply telling me that this is common practice (cashless facilities) around the world is not a good reason, nor should it guide public policy creation in The Bahamas.

As a matter of fact, department heads ought to be made to focus their attention on expanding the availability of public services and the means by which these services can be accessed through multiple means and methods. This should be the mandate given down by the government.

Administrators ought to also be reminded that while they may have the authority to implement policies and regulations to efficiently and effectively carry out their department mandate, the measures adopted ought to be reasonable and balanced, having primary regard to what serves the best interest of the public interest.

The Health and Wellness Minister would have a difficult time convincing me that the non-acceptance of cash at government health care facilities is in the greater public interest.

In the creation of a reasonable public policy governing the provision of health care, it ought to be irrelevant whether an individual is going to pay with debit card or cash, especially if they have the means and the willingness to pay.

Let them pay with the legal instrument of their choosing and let them move on with their recovery.

The primary concern of a health care administrator ought to be getting the individual on the road to recovery not the individual payment method.

While I am not opposed to the promotion of non-cash transactions at public facilities, I am opposed to making it a policy that only non-cash transactions will be entertained at a public facility, especially at a public facility providing medical care.

The time has come for government to state its policy position on public facilities not accepting cash. After all it is the government that prints and circulates cash bills.

If the government remains silent on this issue then it will be taken that the recent announcement by the Health and Wellness Minister, represents the government’s position with respect to non-acceptance of cash at government facilities.

CLAUDE B HANNA

January 29, 2023