By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands says the country needs to find sustainable funding to address many of the long-standing challenges plaguing the public healthcare system.

He spoke after health officials raised alarms about overcrowding at the Princess Margaret Hospital.

During a press conference on Thursday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville told reporters the hospital was “bursting from the seams” due to a major influx of non COVID-19 patients.

He said some 52 people were waiting to be admitted into the hospital on Thursday, some of whom had to be transferred to Doctor’s Hospital West later that day.

Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Dr Sands said the harsh reality is the current model being used to address health concerns in the country is “broken”.

 He said many of the problems in public health are not new, but were just exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 To address these challenges, the former Cabinet minister said the country needs to “find a way for sustainable funding for our public healthcare system,” adding the situation at both PMH and the Rand Memorial Hospital cannot continue.

 “I think that the fundamental problem of Princess Margaret Hospital and the Public Hospital Authority - because this problem also is found at the Rand - is a capacity issue and it’s a funding issue and this has been a problem now for decades,” he said.

 “The system promises to deliver, but it’s not given the tools to deliver and so let me give a shout out to all of the people who do the best that they can, every single day, in incredibly adverse and challenging circumstances.

 “But if you start with a situation at the Public Hospitals Authority it is underfunded annually by about $35m or $40m, then you understand why maintenance is a challenge and new equipment is a challenge and why improved terms of engagement for certain level of the staff is a problem and why we have not enough pharmacists, radiologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, etc.

‘What ends up happening is because this system is functioning on the edge... so if you get a few extra COVID patients, a few extra gunshot wound patients, a few people call in sick, etc, the ripple effect is magnified.”

 The Free National Movement chairman also highlighted the need for more manpower in public health, saying the country has not invested enough in this regard.

 “Right now, the shortage is not in buildings, but it is in people and I’m not talking about support staff,” Dr Sands continued. “Unless you stop the bleeding in terms of registered nurses, your healthcare system will be in peril.

 “The situation with registered nurses in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas it is at a crisis level and has been so for some time and this requires urgent, deliberate attention. We started the process - and I certainly recognised how important it is - but we didn’t go far enough and if we don’t go far enough, we will see more public clinics shut down and more Family Island clinics shut down and less services offered to Bahamians, etc.”

 Dr Darville has previously committed the government to addressing the nursing and bed shortages.

 He also promised that the Davis administration will build two new “state of the art” hospitals as highlighted in its Blueprint for Change.

 “The Princess Margaret Hospital is one of those campuses. We will create another campus and a feasibility study for that facility is near completion for that here in New Providence,” the health minister said on Friday.

 “I’ve indicated that there were two potential sites. Those sites are being completed and once they are completed and we believe that the sites are capable of handling the additional campus, we will begin to notify the Bahamian people of the next step.

 “But while we’re speaking, we’re making steady progress for the new hospital in Grand Bahama, which is also challenged. I’m pleased to report to the media that all of the geo technical studies have been done and my next step would be to survey the land,” he said.