Dr. Duane Sands

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Duane Sands said yesterday that even though he supports National Health Insurance (NHI), he believes that what has been presented can only be considered an "abomination".

The outspoken doctor asserted that he is not going to pretend that what he sees -- with regard to the government's progress on NHI -- is workable." I am hoping to get a reasonable NHI program, and I don't believe it's going to happen in the next three to six months," said Sands.

The former chairman of the Bahamas Medical Council spoke at a panel discussion yesterday hosted by the Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), and expressed his concern that all of the important shareholders have been "shut up" and "marginalized" on NHI.

"It is a shameful disgrace that we have arrived to this point by dismissing the insurance industry, physicians and many stakeholders. Unfortunately, the government of The Bahamas has decided that they are the only ones who understand the issues, that they are collectively the owners of all of the intellectual property as it relates to the advancement of healthcare," said Sands.

He regards this as "most unfortunate". For that reason, Sands stated, "We can do better than this."

Sands regards the government's expectations for NHI as "one of the biggest tragedies by the elevation of expectations" and "a point that we can not achieve".

"When we say to people there will be no more cookouts, we will take care of every single medical problem you have, and there will be no limit to the benefits, that cannot happen with any country, or with any economy in the world, and yet that has been the mantra of this NHI roll-out," said Sands.

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