Doctors Hospital plans to introduce primary care as a part of its services, according to its CEO Charles Sealy who explained yesterday that the service will be offered whether National Health Insurance (NHI) is properly implemented or not.
During an interview with The Nassau Guardian yesterday, Sealy also said he is "excited" to see what NHI manifests into now that the program is in the process of revamping.
"Doctors Hospital continues to position itself and prepare itself," Sealy said at the University of The Bahamas.
"We're looking forward to introducing primary care as another part of the services we provide to the community.
"So, in very short order, that's going to be another addition to the services at Doctors Hospital.
"So, we've heard a lot about that as well.
"That's whether NHI comes or not.
"We hope to, throughout New Providence and of course the family of islands, seek to [make] primary care services available to the Bahamian public.
"And then, of course, that being our first step and then the opportunity to provide whatever tertiary needs they have."
Sealy did not say when that service will be offered but assured that it would be in the near future.
Sealy did, however, express much hope in NHI.
Despite calls from Medical Association of The Bahamas (MAB) President Dr. Sy Pierre to "scrap" the program, Sealy said he believes the minister will make the necessary adjustments to make the program work considering the large amount of money already invested into it.
"In listening to the minister, I think he has taken into consideration the significant funds that have been spent on consultancy for NHI," Sealy said.
"So while the suggestion of scratch is there, I think they are going to take into consideration all that volume of information in making the decision to move ahead.
"A part of the challenge as indicated and as known by most Bahamians is the funding. The funding is an issue.
"The opportunity then to look at NHI differently in terms of what constituency of patients are you going to concentrate on in the first iteration.
"The beautiful thing that I've seen is in the NHI authority that they've recently established.
"If you look at the compilation, obviously the minister has taken into consideration all of the different players in the market who may have a vantage point with regards to it, or have some need to be involved in the discussion.
"So they've put some persons together who I believe when they sit at the table, they're going to look at what is going to be in the best interest of all stakeholders.
"That includes the providers, those who are in private health insurance that [are] going to supplement whatever programs we have in place and the minister has gone on the record to say if you have insurance, keep your insurance.
"And so, we know that over the next few years the government of The Bahamas is challenged with finding the finances to do a number of things.
"So corporate Bahamas as well as any national organization will have to look at how best we will be efficient in the dispensation.
"So we're excited and we're looking forward to seeing what comes out of the manifestation of discussions for NHI."

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