Clinic Expansions/Renovations to address Chronic, Non-Communicable Diseases at Primary Healthcare Level

Wed, Mar 29th 2017, 01:22 PM

The Public Hospitals Authority’s (PHA) investment of almost ten million dollars in expansions and renovations to pubic health clinics across The Bahamas will not only allow healthcare officials to address the issue of chronic, non-communicable diseases at the primary healthcare level, but should also result in a reduction of the long-term costs associated with the care and treatment of those diseases.

The expansions and renovations come ahead of the phased implementation of National Health Insurance in The Bahamas.

PHA Managing Director Herbert Brown said the upgrades to the public healthcare facilities are essential and will lead to improvements in services; improved access for all clients and improved accommodations for staff should translate into a better experience for clients of those facilities and enhanced ability to proactively address chronic non-communicable diseases at the primary healthcare level.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the global economic impact of leading chronic, non-communicable diseases - cancer, diabetes, heart disease and chronic respiratory disease - could reach $47 trillion over the next 20 years.

The diseases, which are preventable, are of increasing concern in developing countries such as The Bahamas because of their transition from low-income to middle-income status, the influence of globalization on consumption patterns, and ageing populations. They are also of concern in developed countries.

Mr. Brown said focus must be placed on keeping persons out of hospital, particularly as a result of chronic, non-communicable diseases which are not only preventable, but which also carry a heavy price burden on not only global health systems, but patients and their families.

The PHA Managing Director said the further strengthening of the country’s primary healthcare system and lifestyle changes among individuals could help to stem the tide in The Bahamas.

“At the end of the day, I was pleased to know that the government was actually starting with primary healthcare (Phase I of the implementation of NHI) because the intent must always be to keep people out of hospital,” Mr. Brown said.

“When people have to be hospitalized for illnesses that are essentially preventable, it is both costly to that individual, their family and it costs us significantly more. Those funds that then have to be earmarked for restoration of care could be used to engage additional staff, to ensure that we are able to improve services and other areas and so the focus has to be on prevention as opposed to having to restore health.

“I think that you are going to see – as a part of this roll-out – a tremendous amount of focus will be placed on prevention across our country because at the end of the day we want to maximize the resources that we have.”

Addressing members of the media attending the contract signing for the expansion/renovations to the Fleming Street and Elizabeth Estates Clinics Tuesday (March 29), Mr. Brown said improvements to the public health infrastructure was “indeed critical.”

“I believe we have engaged four very capable contractors. They have been issued a mandate that we expect to see quality work. The contractors would have started this work even before we executed the contract (and) so that would suggest to me that we can expect the work to be completed in a timely manner at the end of the day.

“What is also important about this exercise is that it allows us to bring the clinics’ infrastructure up to the standards required for NHI. In addition to that, we will be modifying some portions of the interior of the buildings to ensure that they are more accessible for patients and to ensure that our staff has better accommodations in order to provide the level of service required so that when people walk into the doors of our clinics, from the time they meet our receptionists, they will not only see that there is a nice building now, but they are going to feel the difference in terms of the quality of service we provide to them and that is significant to me. I am sure it is significant to the staff, and also very important to the Government of The Bahamas."


By Matt Maura

Bahamas Information Services

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