By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

FACED with deficiencies in public healthcare in the Family Islands, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said officials will beef up manpower resources to at least $3m.

He said the government was concerned particularly with the challenges on the Family Islands, so much of the focus will be outside of New Providence.

Dr Darville said to support this, several contracts will be signed in the coming weeks to improve facilities throughout the country.

The minister was asked about improvements in the Family Islands after a serious traffic accident in Exuma on Monday night.

Seven people were seriously injured.

Police said shortly after 8pm, a Jeep Wrangler, occupied by five Americans, was travelling east on Queen’s Highway in the area of Flamingo Bay when it collided with a white flatbed truck occupied by two Bahamians, which was travelling west.

The four women and three men were taken to the Exuma Health Care Facility where they were listed in serious condition. Arrangements were being made on Tuesday morning to have the injured airlifted to New Providence for further medical attention.

 Four of them have been released from hospital.

 Dr Darville said: “The government is very concerned about the challenges we face on our Family Islands. Over the last three weeks I have been to just about every clinic in the Family Islands, including Grand Bahama.

 “Very shortly there will be a variety of contracts signed that will improve the physical plant and we have approved up to about 500 workers, patient care assistants. We are now starting the training. If you look on the Public Hospitals Authority website you will see that we are supposed to start a course for patient care technicians for emergency technicians and all of this is basically the training to ensure that there are trained manpower resources on the Family Islands.

 “In the event that we have accidents we will be able to respond more effectively.

 “We intend to put a very robust EMT ground transportation system in our Family Islands and this training exercise is the beginning because under our IDB loan facility we have already procured a wide cross section of ambulances that will actually be stationed in our family islands for us to do better ground and air transportation in the connections.

 “With the improvement of our clinics we want to ensure that we have fibre optic connections so that we are able to launch a very robust telemedicine programme in our Family Islands and as we speak we have 15 new doctors that will be coming on for deployment into the Family Islands after training is completed on top of the 15 that I brought on last year.

 “And so we realise that there are deficiencies in the Family Islands. This is a unique country. We are archipelagic. Many of our Caribbean countries don’t have the same challenges we have, but the Ministry of Health and Wellness is working very diligently to improve the delivery of healthcare services throughout the Family Islands and create equity in the system where what happens in New Providence and Grand Bahama is reflective of what’s happening in the Family Islands.”

 Asked by The Tribune what cost was attached to improved manpower resources, the minister said: “I cannot give you an exact figure but last year I got the approval from Cabinet.

 “The additional cost for the Family Islands is somewhere between upward $3m to probably close to $4m. These are manpower resources and to top it off there are infrastructural upgrades that are necessary.

 “And I spoke earlier about our IDB loan facilities where we intend to build an additional eight clinics throughout the Family Islands.”

 Dr Darville said officials know where the clinics are going to be constructed and are working diligently to begin the process.

 However, given that hurricane season is underway, the minister said some remedial repairs were necessary at clinics in the Family Islands.