By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville told the House of Assembly yesterday the country is facing a post COVID-19 health crisis: an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases.

Dr Darville, in his mid-year budget contribution in Parliament, said the increase in NDC cases has led to an increase in those going to the hospital for care, thus putting a strain on the ministry’s resources.

He has previously lamented the increase in NDCs as a common occurrence in many countries, noting that the pandemic pushed these comorbidities to the back burner as it relates to usual care.

“Like other countries around the world, The Bahamas is currently facing a post COVID-19 health crisis and that is in the increased incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases, mainly middle aged and elderly Bahamians showing up at our Accident and Emergency Department needing hospital care,” he told parliamentarians.

“This increased demand for in-hospital care is creating strains on our current budget and it is proving to be difficult for us to deliver secondary and tertiary health care because of the increased demand.

“Many of these unstable patients require recurrent hospitalisation because of noncompliance with medication, diet and sometimes lack primary healthcare follow up, in many cases resulting in readmission just weeks after being discharged.”

The minister added: “This was becoming a vicious cycle because these chronic patients continue to occupy the bulk of precious hospital beds making it extremely difficult to admit surgical, medical, obstetric and gynaecological patients who in most cases have been on waiting lists for years to have lifesaving, non-urgent surgical procedures completed.”

Work remains underway to resolve the problem at the primary healthcare level, starting with aggressive patient education, structured community nursing, and strong wellness programmes to meet patients’ needs in the communities, he also said.

Dr Darville said his ministry also intends to use digital monitoring devices able to detect patients with uncontrolled diabetes, unstable congestive cardiac failure among other illnesses, adding, “this will allow us to move swiftly to stabilise these patients, preventing unnecessary hospitalisation.’

With respect to manpower challenges, he said his ministry is making much headway to correct these deficiencies which he described as a “global phenomenon.”

“I am pleased to announce many of the 450 new healthcare professionals and support staff have now been trained and are currently being deployed throughout the public healthcare system filling many of the gaps that existed when I came to office,” said Dr Darville.

“I am proud to report that additional approval of staff that training is almost completed and should be manifested completely in the budget cycle at the end of this cycle. With this increase in human resources, I am excited about where our ministry is headed and our ability to deliver primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services across the country.”

He said there is recruitment of nurses from Ghana, Cuba and the Philippines to address shortages in specialty nurses and some allied healthcare workers.

He also confirmed the hiring of three specialist physicians from Cuba, two ophthalmologists and one radiologist who will soon join the Public Hospitals Authority’s team.

And over the next several months, he said the ministry intends to engage another eight biomedical engineers, two respiratory therapists, 12 lab technologists and ten radiographers from Cuba.

He said the group’s hiring will help fill the gaps at the National Reference Lab, and expand services at polyclinics in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

“I am also happy to report that in the last six months we have brought on an additional 67 University of The Bahamas’ nursing graduates and 15 doctors for deployment at our primary healthcare facilities across the country,” the minister continued.

“With the enactment of the Mental Health Bill some 47 nurses are currently enrolled in the Psychiatric Post Graduate Diploma Programme as part of the requirements for the enactment and bringing into force the first part of the Mental Health Act 2023.”

“I am pleased to report in the second half of this year the diploma in midwifery, emergency medicine, neonatology and dialysis is scheduled to begin in order to address the specialty gaps with Bahamian nurses that currently exist at all public hospitals.”

He also revealed that PHA is finalising a training clinical nurse curriculum and the accreditation process for the specific TCN programmes.

“As soon as that is completed, we will begin enrollment of 100 trained clinical students each year for the next three years to complete the 18-month programme scheduled to start in the second half of this budget cycle at the newly established PHA academy right here in the capital,” he also noted.