Town hall meetings for National Health Insurance (NHI) Bahamas continued this week in Cat Island (Knowles Village) and Long Island (Clarence Town and Simms), to inform and engage local residents about NHI.

Catherine Weech, representing the NHI Bahamas Secretariat, led the community meeting in Knowles Town on Monday March 7th at the Ministry of Education’s Media Centre where 32 people, ranging from retirees to young adults, participated in a lively discussion. Ms. Weech addressed questions about whether or not persons should retain their private health insurance (which is a choice that is up to the individual) after NHI is fully implemented, and clarified what happens if a patient’s primary care doctor is located in New Providence. Of the participants, only four had not yet registered for their NIB SmartCard.

Meanwhile, Damara Dillett, NHI Legal Counsel travelled to Long Island on Monday March 7th and spoke to residents in Clarence Town, where 42 people attended the meeting. Many questions focused on NHI, preparation of community clinics for NHI, distinctions between the primary care phase and catastrophic care phase, NHI service fees, concerns of abuse from immigrants, and the reality of choice of providers and services on the island. Questions were also asked about separate ongoing health system strengthening activity.

On Tuesday March 8th in Simms, Dr. Delon Brennen met with 17 residents who had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the meeting. Questions from residents focused on how to get doctors more enthusiastic about NHI Bahamas, mechanisms being used to increase focus on health promotion and prevention, concerns around quality of health care facilities on Long Island, and how to go about changing primary care providers.

“NHI is very important, especially for persons who cannot afford health care. We will let people know about the fantastic information we got from this meeting," said a local resident who attended the town hall meeting in Simms.

The Secretariat will travel to North and Central Andros on Thursday and Friday of this week.

Next week, the NHI Secretariat will hold town hall meetings in Marsh Harbour and Coopers Town, Abaco (March 15th), Alice Town, Bimini (March 15th), and Acklins Island (March 18th). Local residents are encouraged to attend these meetings to become more educated about NHI Bahamas and the benefits of the programme.

More information on NHI Bahamas can be found at www.nhibahamas.gov.bs.

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Twitter: @NHIBahamas

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Contact the NHI Secretariat:

Email: info@nhibahamas.gov.bs

Phone: 502-7601