The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration’s healthcare push ran up against a stubborn reality this term: worsening hospital conditions, delayed projects, and limited transparency around flagship programmes.

As the Progressive Liberal Party seeks re-election on its Blueprint for Change, key elements of its healthcare agenda remain incomplete or difficult to measure, even though select reforms and spending continue.

The plan promised sweeping improvements — from introducing catastrophic healthcare to building new hospitals and improving conditions at Princess Margaret Hospital.

The government can point to progress, including new and renovated clinics across the Family Islands, public health campaigns, and the passage of the National Health Insurance Act, 2025. However, it remains unclear to what extent those measures are easing pressure on an overburdened system.

The Blueprint for Change pledged to introduce catastrophic healthcare across The Bahamas, but there is little publicly available data on how the programme is functioning.

The Davis administration launched an internal audit of the Catastrophic Healthcare Fund last June, yet information on how many people have benefited and under what conditions remains unavailable.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said yesterday that the programme has helped hundreds of Bahamians with serious conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and orthopaedic issues, but he could not provide a specific figure. He also noted that the fund is self-limiting, meaning access ends once its allocation is exhausted. Funding for the programme has increased from $10m to $12m in the current budget cycle.

Major infrastructure promises also remain in progress.

The government committed to building new hospitals in New Providence and Grand Bahama, upgrading facilities in Abaco and Exuma, and developing a new hospital in Eleuthera.

Dr Darville said two mini-hospitals are expected to be upgraded to urgent care facilities using Inter-American Development Bank loan funding, but those upgrades have not been completed during this term.

The Palmetto Point Advanced Medical Facility in Eleuthera is now projected to be completed by the end of 2026, while plans to expand healthcare infrastructure in Exuma remain in development.

Other elements of the plan have moved forward, including the construction of additional clinics, new nursing programmes and health promotion campaigns through BIS, ZNS and other partners.

But on the ground, healthcare workers say the system remains under strain.

Bahamas Nurses Union president Muriel Lightbourn said some nurses in the Department of Public Health are still waiting for overtime and mileage payments dating back more than three years. Efforts to resolve those issues have been referred to the Ministry of Health without action, she said.

The next general election is set for May 12, which coincides with International Nurses Day.

“The nurses are going to the polls understanding that they've (government) not done what they're supposed to do for those nurses,” Ms Lightbourn said.

The union has been seeking a new industrial agreement since July 2025 to address pay and retention concerns. The last agreement was signed in 2022. Ms Lightbourn said she is still waiting on a counterproposal from the Department of Public Health and the Ministry of Health.

The situation has intensified as many nurses also await confirmations, appointments and promotions, while conditions at Princess Margaret Hospital have deteriorated to what staff describe as among the worst in its history.

Concerns extend beyond nursing.

Consultant Physicians Staff Association president Dr Charelle Lockhart said her 136 members are still without government-provided health insurance despite signing an industrial agreement with the Public Hospitals Authority last June.

“My expectations are limited when it comes to things that cost money with the government,” she said. “I think my expectation is communication, and I think that's where they have fallen down on being respectful enough to keep the lines of communication open without us having to beg for it.”