NASSAU, The Bahamas --- The Ministry of Health and the Department of Public Health will introduce performance targets for all its employees within the public healthcare clinic system in order to make them more accountable to patients, Minister of Health Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis said.
Dr. Minnis said the performance targets will also bring and end to the practice of some doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals circumventing their work hours and schedules by cutting short their shifts.
“We have had positive discussions with executives of the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) and the Nurses and Doctors Unions and all have agreed that their members should be held accountable,” Dr. Minnis said.
“They also indicated, and we agreed, that each individual should be treated with respect,” Dr. Minnis added.
The Health Minister said the performance targets will address incidences of patients being turned away and not being treated by medical personnel, or having to wait an inordinate number of hours for treatment/consultations at the public community healthcare centres.
Dr. Minnis said measures will be put in place where disciplinary action can be taken against offending personnel. He said the possibility exists for the introduction of a “punch clock” system within the public health clinics to ensure that all employees fulfill their obligations to work eight hours.
“We will treat every individual with respect and only where basic protocols fail, we will move to other targets such as the introduction of the punch-clock system,” Dr. Minnis added.
Dr. Minnis said it is not unusual for physicians in the public clinic setting to register six to 10 patients during an eight-hour shift “and believe those are all the patients they need to consult with and/or treat.” He said private sector physicians can sometime consult with and/or treat up to 30 patients.
“But yet in the public system, they are only consulting with six. That is not right,” Dr. Minnis said.
The Health Minister said that during school examinations, medical students “are given 20 minutes per patient.”
“If you would calculate that over an eight-hour period, it will accumulate to more than six patients. If you can consult with more than six patients in an examination setting, which is the most stressful environment one can be in at that time, you can most certainly do better than six in a public setting,” Dr. Minnis added.
Dr. Minnis said it is his duty to ensure that Bahamians receive access to the best healthcare throughout The Bahamas.
He said the Government of The Bahamas, through the Ministry of Health, Department of Public Health and Public Hospitals Authority, can continue to improve the primary healthcare infrastructure throughout The Bahamas, but all of that will be for naught, if the delivery of services does not match the upgrades.
“The Bahamian public does not want to hear from me about how many repairs have been facilitated, nor do they want to hear about how many doctors, nurses or security guards have been employed because they feel that is my job,” Dr. Minnis said.
“What they want to know is how the healthcare system is positively impacting them. They want to know that they will be able to access the services we provide at all times.
The Bahamian public demands to know why they enter a clinic at 8 a.m. in the morning only to be told that the doctor arrives at 10 a.m. and leaves at 11 a.m.,” Dr. Minnis said.
“They want to know why an elderly patient has to sit in the Waiting Room from 9 a.m. to 12 noon without anything to eat or drink and the doctor came in and left without having seen that patient.
“They want to know why they entered the clinic at 9 a.m. and the numbering system is being used and at 11:30 a.m. they are told there are no more numbers being given and they were waiting all morning.
“This new system will address all of their concerns as it relates to the provision of quality service in the public healthcare system,” Dr. Minnis added.
