NHI cancellation claim ‘furthest thing from truth’

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Minister of Health yesterday reiterated that the Dr Hubert Minnis-led administration is committed to moving forward with a workable National Health Insurance (NHI) platform, describing suggestions that the scheme will be scrapped as “the furthest thing from the truth”.

Dr Duane Sands said: “Most of us are just in the process of meeting the various team members and being briefed on the status of various programmes and initiatives. 

“It is going to take some time to get up to speed, and while I would rather not speak to specifics at this time, I know that there is a lot of misinformation out there.”

The enrollment phase of NHI launched in April, and earlier this month officials said that more than 9,000 persons and around 60 private doctors had signed-on to NHI, which was supposed to be rolled-out in phases.

“There has been a lot of misinformation put out there that this administration intends to cancel NHI,” Dr Sands said. “That is the furthest thing from the truth. Our manifesto speaks to the moving forward with a workable NHI platform  with a robust catastrophic healthcare component, and we are not going to separate ourselves from that commitment.”

He added: “Right now I’m trying to digest all of the information that’s being presented. I’m getting a lay of the land and then we’ll get down to business.”