By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 2,600 people have enrolled in the National Health Insurance programme in the two days following its historic launch on Monday, according to the NHI Secretariat yesterday.

Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez yesterday said the milestone had positioned the nation among first world countries on the matter of healthcare services; however, he acknowledged that there was still no decision on how the government would fund the scheme.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing that’s happening,” Dr Gomez said, “the fact that we have reached this point, the beginning of NHI, many people thought it wouldn’t happen and particularly didn’t think it would happen at the time we said it would happen, this month.

“I’m happy that we have met the target and the work begins in getting people enrolled and subsequently into care and it’s a momentous day for our country. We now join all first world countries to have the presence of NHI in their countries, when I say all first world countries we have to watch what (American president Donald) Trump does in the United States to eliminate Obamacare, which is NHI.”

“I’m delighted that we have reached this far but the work just begins,” he said.

Dr Gomez said he was confident that more providers will come forward over time as resistance to the scheme among the private medical community subsided.

The Christie administration’s NHI primary care phase has been given a $100 million budget, through a mixture of funds ‘repurposed’ from elsewhere in its spending budget and tax revenues likely produced by value added tax (VAT).

However, the government has yet to disclose how much NHI will cost should it be rolled out to its full extent, and who will finance it, with many Bahamians fearing new or increased taxes are inevitable to fund such an expensive social programme.

When asked if there had been any further consideration, Dr Gomez said: “That’s not moved yet, let me leave it there. Right now the government is funding it out of the (public) purse but I don’t think you could continue that way. Somewhere down the line we will look at other means, there are some things that have been suggested from the very first dissertation on this, sin taxes and so on, as one.”

Bahamians can enrol in NHI Bahamas and select their doctor online at www.nhibahamas.gov.bs, or in person at the following enrolment locations in New Providence: Cotton Tree Plaza at Bernard Road, Fox Hill; Enoch Beckford Memorial Auditorium on Carmichael Road; and New Providence Community Centre on Blake Road. Persons in the Family Islands can enrol online or in-person at their local NIB office, the Secretariat said.

To enrol, people will need their NIB smart card and proof that they have resided in the Bahamas for the last six months.