I am a young Bahamian physician studying abroad and near completion of my training, nearly 18 years after high school.

I love my country and want to come home. I am of the few who has been trying to convince my fellow Bahamian young physicians of various specialties to come home and help to start residencies/fellowships in addition to practicing at home so that we can end the brain drain and end the inability to educate our own people. Many of our Bahamian physicians are leaders in their respective specialties abroad. I would love to see us start our own medical/surgical journal where the world pays attention to what's going on in the Bahamas medically as Cuba and Jamaica have established themselves.

Alas, many of us are paying close attention to the handling of NHI. This 70% reduction in salary will only serve as the nail in the coffin for those of us considering whether or not to come home.

Yes, patients/our people are the priority, but many of have exorbitant student loans and also need the same green paper that all of us need in order to house, clothe, and feed our families.

I urge the government to be cognizant of the fact that the current group of consultants are aging and will be retiring soon. There will be a changing of the guard on the medical front in a few short years, how will our dear Bahamaland fare? Will Bahamians be forced to go to Jamaica, Cuba, or the US and the like for tertiary care? Least I remind everyone we already do that, but it will increase with the current climate of what NHI discussion.

Congratulations Cynthia!!! Go Bahamas!

Thank you. That is correct

It is shameful! People need to stop with the having the 'right' to commit crime. Being poor doesn't give you absolution to be immoral. We must have law and order! If you needed furniture/money ask for it! Do odd jobs if need be. Give me a break! I hope no one buys the furniture from them either.

Todd,

As a human being, please receive everyone's heartfelt dismay over Nelly being missing. What you must appreciate is that there are many parts of this story that simply don't add up. The comments where people are questioning the missing pieces should be upsetting, but as a sensible person they are not unexpected. You speak of her as a Christian woman, but yet she was a very willing participant in what I must say is very, very dangerous criminal activity....human smuggling. These are hardly the actions of a Christian woman and any character involved in human smuggling are usually the lowest of the low.

While relationships are different for everyone that part also doesn't add up, so various suspicions of you should be addressed also. While to you it may appear that she was coming to the Bahamas to spend time with you, to the objective person she seems to have been planning this all along. There was just recently a story of a British man and a Jamaican woman who had a 2+ year relationship and the moment she hit Britain's soil, upon marrying her in Jamaica, she left him. Just like you, he sent her money, etc. The way he thought the money was being spent it was being saved for other things. Perhaps she never applied for the visas like she said. Perhaps she has something significant in her history that would make the US government deny her admittance that you are unaware of. Because being denied a visitor's visa does not make much sense.

I think what is bothersome for many people is that foreigners come to The Bahamas to illegally gain access to the USA and when they go missing, the Bahamas is expected to make heads or tails of their journey across the open ocean.

Yes, precedence is to be given to life, but the story does not make sense and should be investigated.

First of all a bonus is exactly what that word implies, a bonus. It is not a guaranteed part of a salary or to be considered pay for services rendered. A bonus should never be an expectation. For the employees to have made plans with money they don't have is foolish. And for Mr. Greene to insinuate that employees WITH jobs will go out and rob if they don't get their bonus is preposterous!! Should the police start questioning BEC employees when there is an armed robbery? (being sarcastic and cynical here) The entitlement of the average Bahamian to have a certain lifestyle is what is wrong with the mentality of our communities that leads us to the current surge in crime.

When times are tough one must cut back and live economically and make sacrifices. Since when did having to live meagerly equate to a justification of crime? Are these the ruminations of our so called 'Christian nation'? It seems as though those at BEC who have been getting a triple salary from over time and getting paid twice with sick and NIB pay, has only added to the entitlement.

It is time to take the fight on crime seriously. Pay the police more money! Make being a police officer a career one would take seriously.

How is this article relative to Bahamian news? Personally, Real Time with Bill Maher is one of my favorite shows, but unless a current Bahamian resident was a panelist on the show, then I don't need to be reading about the awesome vacation time that someone from the Tribune staff experienced....unless you want to have a column about the life and times of John Doe, reporter.

The term 'play marriage' is what bothers me most. I understand that many Christians and supporters of all things traditional don't believe In same sex marriage, but to trivialize the commitment of the two men as a 'play marriage' is downright wrong. The comment was a mockery. While I understand that in the Bahamas gay marriage is not legal, having a marriage ceremony done under the eyes of God is the truest commitment two people can make. Even if it is not legal/official....why make fun of the commitment two people have made with a Christian mindset?

I agree with many statements made above as to men and women who go to church weekly but live in a 'play marriage' because they are not living up to the commitments they made. Let's keep in mind normal human beings don't volunteer to live a lifestyle incongruent with societal norms and they surely don't choose to be mocked for what comes natural to them.

Well, well, well....is ShaMe promoting workers to protest and possibly lose their jobs? Does the minister have jobs lined up for the inevitable firings? Why is the minister asking lay people to do the job they were elected on? How can the lay person beat the almighty government?

All I can say is, workers get to work and do the job you were hired to do or quit!