Close Menu
Asberth News Network
    Facebook Instagram
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Download App
    Facebook Instagram
    Asberth News Network
    • Home
    • Latest News
    • Breaking News
    • Local News
    • Regional/International News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Back to School
    Asberth News Network
    Home»NDP VIEW»Vincentians deserve better health care
    NDP VIEW

    Vincentians deserve better health care

    February 13, 2023No Comments5 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Telegram WhatsApp
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    (Excerpts of Dr. the Honourable Godwin Friday’s 2023 Budget Presentation)
    I heard the minister talked about a health care revolution. You can’t be serious. The horror
    stories are familiar to most of us. Madam Speaker, health is one of the closest things to you. You
    have to try and improve as time goes on. We don’t have to accept that bad health care is just the
    way things are in St. Vincent and Grenadines. When you get sick you go somewhere else. We
    deserve better
    The minister will say that we have invested in the budget. This estimates $110 million, directly
    in the health services. A hundred million in recurrent expenditures and $9.4 million for capital
    expenditure. Yet, there is chronic shortage of basic medicine for common diseases. Bandages
    and supplies are often not available and I know this from people who are there or have been there
    recently. Therefore, leaving family members to search all over Kingstown to try to find a
    pharmacy that has the medication. We have had a scarcity or a lack of critical diagnostic
    equipment. But, the minister said, and I’m happy to hear, that an MRI machine and CT scan are
    coming to help with that problem. The question is, of course, to make sure that they function,
    you have the technicians, and they work, because we had a CT scan here too and sometimes you
    go there and it isn’t working.
    So, we have to make sure we take care of those problems. You can’t have Madam Speaker, a
    person coming from North Leeward or the Southern Grenadines to go and get a procedure, and
    when you get to the hospital, you are told, “Well sorry, the machine is down.” or, “the technician
    didn’t come in today,” That is unconscionable. I see that there is the patient bill of rights in the
    hospital, that means nothing if the people who are administering the institution don’t take it to
    heart themselves. The patients could read it and grumble, and who do they complain to? You
    have an ombudsman to your parliamentary representative who’s in the opposition. We have to do
    better than that.
    Madam Speaker, very often for persons who need to have surgery or diagnostic intervention,
    currently have to go overseas. A friend of mine went to Grenada for MRI. Some people go to
    Barbados or to Trinidad, or if you have to undergo surgery still, they do. The delays can cause a
    lot of pain and anxiety for people. We understand that the complex surgeries, brain surgery, heart
    surgery, organ transplants or serious technical advanced kind of surgeries, that you have to still
    go abroad. We’ll never be able to do those things here, because we just don’t have the numbers
    to justify that. But, we should put facilities in place to make sure we can get access to them. We
    must improve, Madam Speaker, the question is, how do people find the money to pay for these
    services? The suggestion was that there was going to be perhaps user fees.
    But, currently what happens is that somebody gets sick, and you get treatment with us here or
    overseas. People have to go and they beg their MP, they come to my office or some of the
    members on this side and members on my team, they are very generous and try to help people as
    best they can with their limited resources. I would hope the members on the other side do
    likewise. But similarly, Madam Speaker, they go to businesses, they get charities or they have
    food sale, barbecue sale, to try and raise funds to go and get treatment. And, you may do that the

    first time, but what happens if you have to go back? You have to go through the process again.
    That is not acceptable.
    Madam Speaker, it’s very hard to hear someone who comes for assistance, because they need a
    diagnosis, and they have a life-threatening illness or they need to get intervention, whether it’s
    surgery or some of the treatment, and they have to go overseas; Barbados, Trinidad, maybe even
    Cuba before the analysis and treatment. And, you ask them, “Well, when are you going?” And
    they replied, they don’t know because they have to raise the money to go. This comes in dribs
    and drabs, a little contribution here and there. People go around with sponsor sheets trying to
    raise funds. That’s unacceptable. The number of such cases might be statistically not large, but
    they’re significant.
    In any event, Madam Speaker, health care is not a numbers game. It’s not a numbers game.
    Every single life is precious and matters, especially to the owner of it, and to their family
    members. So, we need to do better. Let’s see, the functioning of the CT scan and the MRI that
    the minister spoke of, how that will work out. And again, the question that I ask is that not just
    having the machine but having the maintenance, having the technical people, the staff, to make
    sure it functions the way it’s supposed to.
    You will note that the NDP in the campaign, we talked about building a modern purpose hospital
    to serve our people, and they ridiculed it, Madam Speaker. They find a picture somewhere on the
    internet and they say, “Oh, this is Farmville. The people of St Vincent and the Grenadines don’t
    deserve this.” Then it took them a little while to come up with their own idea. They say, “Well,
    listen, this is something. The NDP may have had a good plan there, but let me come up with
    something else. We’ll call it not a hospital, an acute referral hospital.” Call it something
    different, it’s part of a bigger plan. But, we understand and the people understand that this is
    what we proposed, because we know that people of this country deserve better health care.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Save our fishing industry

    October 5, 2024

    NDP View: ULP continues to allow crime to escalate

    October 5, 2024

    SVG lags behind in digital accessibility of laws

    June 8, 2024

    The Hidden Health Risks of Barbershops and Salons: Common Diseases and How to Prevent Them

    May 20, 2024
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    • Home
    • Latest News
    • Breaking News
    • Local News
    • Regional/International News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Back to School
    Our Socials
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    ANN

    Asbert News Network is the premier destination for local, regional and international news in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It’s tomorrow’s news today.

    © 2025 Asbert News Network
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Download App

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.