By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Politicians “must move away from self-gratification and bragging rights”, an ex-prime minister asserted yesterday, joining his former health minster over fears the new hospital will become a “white elephant”.

Dr Hubert Minnis told Tribune Business that Bahamian Cabinet ministers should focus on ensuring existing facilities “function” properly, rather than simply constructing new buildings which they can attach their name to and claim responsibility for their development.

And, rather than simply boast of passing laws in Parliament, the Killarney MP argued that ministers and MPs need to concentrate on ensuring there is sufficient manpower, resources and any technical assistance required to properly enforce and implement the legislation in practice.

Dr Minnis spoke out in the context of the proposed new $267m New Providence hospital, for which the Davis administration signed a $195m financing agreement with the state-owned China Export-Import Bank last week. Both he and Dr Duane Sands, who was minister of health for part of his administration, described the investment as a potential “white elephant” given the existing system’s challenges.

The duo, in separate interviews with this newspaper, challenged why the Government is pursuing a third hospital in The Bahamas given the manpower, equipment and supplies shortages impacting the current public healthcare systems. They pointed out that these concerns are not simply political because doctors, via the Medical Association of The Bahamas, and nurses have identified similar issues.

Dr Minnis challenged why the Government would “embark” on investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a new facility when it is already facing “white elephants” in the two mini-hospitals located in Abaco and Exuma. Developed more than a decade ago, he added that while equipped with “brand new equipment” they still lack sufficient trained staff to be used to their full potential.

“Us and the medical community, the MAB, came out with our concerns previously over supplies, equipment and manpower needs,” the former prime minister told Tribune Business. “We don’t have staff to deal with what we have now, and to try and construct another hospital....

“I pointed out the condition of the mini-hospitals, one in Abaco, one in Exuma. For want of a better word, they are two [white] elephants. We have brand new equipment in there and don’t have the manpower to use it. They have examples to follow. Why would you embark on that [hospital project] when you have examples to follow?

“Provide the proper supplies, manpower and equipment for Abaco and Exuma, where you have state-of-the-art facilities. We have theatres at the Princess Margaret Hospital that cannot function because they don’t have the manpower and equipment, and there is a lot of repair work needed at that facility. Why not concentrate on what is present rather than create a white elephant?”

Dr Minnis, calling on Bahamian politicians to fix existing problems rather than construct new facilities to cover over any flaws, argued: “Politicians must move away from self-gratification, saying this building was built by or named after me. Let’s make things function.

“We must move away from self-gratification. That’s not how you move government forward, how you move the country forward. We move forward by trying to keep up with the supplies and manpower, and international standards. We must all move away from self-gratification and bragging rights.”

Taking aim at Parliament, Dr Minnis said Cabinet ministers and MPs on the governing side too often boast about having passed legislation into law without paying sufficient attention to the detail required when it comes to implementing these Acts.

“That’s the problem with Parliament,” he added. “We have bragging rights. Politicians talk about having passed this into legislation and that legislation, but how are they enforced? These laws require a certain amount of resources and manpower.

“But this party is happy it has come and passed the law, and the next party comes and passes another law. We have to move away from self-gratification and bragging rights, and concentrate on the country.”

Meanwhile Dr Duane Sands, the Opposition’s chairman who was minister of health of part of the Minnis administration, yesterday reiterated the FNM’s position that phased improvements to the existing PMH campus on Shirley Street would have had greater impact, and been more efficient and economical, than splitting tertiary care between two separate New Providence campuses.

The Minnis administration has secured $115m in financing, provided by Banco Santander and underwritten by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), with around $85m of this sum dedicated to construction of a four-storey tower at the existing PMH site similar to the Critical Care Block.

This would have included an accident and emergency (A&E) unit on the ground floor, with additional beds on the third and fourth levels to address the hospital’s capacity challenges. The World Bank-guaranteed loan also had an interest rate of just 1.879 percent - similar to the 2 percent rate obtained from the China Export-Import Bank for the hew hospital.

However, following the 2021 general election, the Davis administration elected not to proceed with the PMH plans and returned the funding back to the lender. Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, explained that the Government was uncomfortable that $20m of the financing had been allocated to funding the start-up and expansion of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Dr Sands, asserting that plans for PMH’s redevelopment were “very far” advanced when he was in office, said: “We had two turnkey proposals on the table when I was minister for development of a new accident and emergency, maternal/child healthcare facility and imaging. 

“Then, subsequent to my resignation, I know plans were not only very far advanced but there was funding in place for the phased redevelopment of the PMH campus. They [the Government] sent the money back, cancelled the plan and here we are four years later with nothing being done. There has been very little infrastructure progress in health despite all the talk.”

The Opposition’s chairman argued that “the attention ought to have gone” on solving the existing public healthcare system’s financing and infrastructure challenges, especially at PMH as well as the two mini-hospitals and health clinics scattered throughout the Family Islands.

“This whole concept of a maternal/child care facility remote from the dilapidated, broken down facility at PMH is a bad idea,” Dr Sands argued. “When you look at the top three, four, five things that either kill or destroy the quality of life of Bahamians, none of those - diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, violence and trauma - will be impacted by this facility.”

He added that Bahamians seeking hospital care will still “suffer the indignity of being subjected to a rundown, neglected, under-resourced and under-staffed facility, whether it’s PMH in Nassau, the Rand Memorial in Freeport, or both mini-hospitals which are 13 years-old and still not open.

“We are going to hypothecate several hundred million dollars for construction of a white elephant that does not impact the problems that are destroying the quality of life for Bahamians, and that is the greatest tragedy of all,” Dr Sands said. “It’s not going to impact 80 percent of the medical problems people have in this country.

“Why they could believe this makes sense is absolutely beyond me.. The Bahamian people will be the ones who pay the price. I don’t know where they will find the money to pay for this, but because it is a low interest rate and deferred payment has been granted, the expectation is that when taxation is required people will forget who hypothecated funds in this fashion.”