by Sidney Sweeting, DDS
It was reported in the Tribune yesterday that Health Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage stated that "while there were critics and those uncertain about the plan’s merits, there had been largely overwhelming support for the project". Overwhelming support, Dr. Nottage?
I have personally made numerous telephone calls to various businesses, civic groups, organizations and private individuals and I have not had one single person indicate that they would welcome this proposed plan. After all, why would anyone with any measure of common sense want to take part in an experiment that would force them to give up their private health insurance?
On the front page of today’s Tribune there is the report of a patient who called for a routine pelvic examination at the PMH and and she was told that she could not be scheduled for an ultrasound until late December or early January, next year. Dr. Max Gammon, reporting on the British National Health Plan almost thirty years after it started, noted that "many must wait years to have an operation that the health service regards as optional or postponable. "at all times there was a waiting list for hospital beds of around 600,000 people."
It is common knowledge that the infrastructure is not adequate at the present time. It would be severely inadequate if the proposed plan was passed, as is. We have heard reports that Government will be presenting plans to expand and improve the health care facilities, the classic example of "putting the cart before the horse.”
The Bahamian people need to be told that this plan, as is, is nothing more than an income tax, that they will be getting no more in health care than they are receiving now. In fact, if they are forced to give up their private health insurance, they will be getting far less.
Perhaps Dr. Nottage would be prepared to explain to the Bahamian people why they are pushing so hard to get this through without proper consultation with the stakeholders and the many businesses that will bear the brunt of the cost.
Dr. Nottage must be well aware that there is a critique of the NHI plan, prepared by Mr. Nadeem Esmail and presented by the Nassau Institute, that cries out for attention and serious consideration before he proceeds any further with the proposed plan.
Dr. Nottage and the rest of Government would be seen to stand tall if they would pause and seriously consider the report by Mr. Esmail. This is a very big step that our country is proposing to take, probably one of the most important decisions it will ever make.
This is a time for statesmanship, a time to put the country before partisan politics, a time to think of our Bahamaland, a time to think of our future and the future of generations yet to come.
