After 23 years of the Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) governance, our healthcare system still does not deliver care that people can trust. The primary role of a government is to protect its people, including their health and wellbeing. The ULP government has not delivered a healthcare system that protects our people.
Our current healthcare system makes it difficult for the elderly, the vulnerable and those living in the rural areas to access healthcare. And, the cost of healthcare in our country is high. What little money most Vincentians have is being spent to buy food and to pay their bills during the cost-of-living crisis which they are experiencing and little is left to spend on healthcare.
Moreover, Vincentians have been complaining about the lack of basic medication at the clinics and hospitals, the mal-functioning and absence of critical equipment to perform important tests at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH). Because certain machines are not available at the MCMH, it means that patients have to seek medical attention overseas. This creates financial burden on the poor and working class to travel overseas. Persons have to be literally begging for financial assistance and to raise funds to seek further medical attention.
A healthy population is an essential prerequisite for the economic growth and stability of a nation. This is a statement of reality that has been tested and vindicated in every country and in every culture around the world. The constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) enshrines the attainment of the highest standard of health is a fundamental human right. This right to health includes unfettered access to timely, acceptable, and affordable health care irrespective of age, gender, socio-economic status or personal or religious persuasion and political allegiance.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) will develop a healthcare system that delivers for everyone. While senior members of the ULP travel overseas to get their health treatments, most Vincentians continue to suffer at home. We want to deliver the best quality healthcare for the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Our economic growth plan will deliver the much-needed funds our healthcare system urgently needs which will end the ULP’s underfunding of healthcare. Although the ULP government has increased taxes over the years, it has not delivered better healthcare services. Instead, it has gotten worse and costing us more money. Despite the problems in the healthcare system, our dedicated doctors, nurses, and pharmacists have been delivering the best they can. They must be commended.
Delivering Quality Healthcare
The NDP will deliver the healthcare our people deserve. Ensuring they can access healthcare close to their homes, knowing that life-saving medication is stocked in our country, and are not forced to travel overseas for essential operations. We cannot risk our people’s health by letting the ULP continue to mismanage our healthcare system.
It is time to take control of our healthcare system from the ULP and entrust it to the NDP, which has a credible plan to create a better future for our country – one where we can all feel sure that our families, friends, and loved ones will receive the best healthcare if they fall ill.
St Vincent and the Grenadines has fallen behind in providing mental health care to the vulnerable citizens. The ULP government has struggled to recruit a psychiatrist, which highlights the fundamental problems with the funding and management of our healthcare system. Therefore, leaving those in need of mental health care worse off. We will create a dedicated facility to support those with mental health issues. We aim to reduce the stigma associated with mental health and promote the use of mental health services.
A National Health Insurance Service will be introduced after discussions with the National Insurance Service (NIS) to provide coverage of basic health care for the insured and their dependants. The service will be similar to our NIS in that it will be mandatory. However, individuals may, if they so desire to secure additional coverage with private insurance to cover services not covered by the national system or to cover private treatment. This service will go a long way to ease the financial burden that most Vincentians are experiencing.
We will ensure that district health facilities; focus on preventive medicine with new support services for persons at risk in order to improve the quality of life of the population; provision will be made for the airlifting of emergency cases from the Grenadines and from remote locations on the mainland; ambulance services will be modernized and efficiently managed, with appropriate training of paramedics.
The NDP will also improve testing and diagnostic facilities; ensure that all hospitals and medical clinics are fully staffed, equipped and have basic medical supplies; improve the infectious disease unit by implementing strict protocols when handling outbreaks of infectious diseases; ensure that all staff members are properly trained and provided with adequate personal protection equipment as recommended by the World Health Organization; strengthen the environmental health and vector control unit.
Also, ensure that a doctor is on call 24 hours at each of the rural hospitals; ensure that the hospital has a medical specialist in critical areas; increase the opening hours of the pharmacy at the MCMH to serve outpatients and inpatients more effectively and improve the port health facilities to ensure that there is a quarantine area that is fully equipped, with personal protection equipment and trained health professionals at all ports of entry.
The NDP is committed to providing healthcare to Vincentians that they can trust. The ULP regime is incompetent and cannot manage the affairs of this country, more so the health sector. We have a plan to revive the economy of St Vincent and the Grenadines which will ultimately provide more funds to the health sector.