Despite the doubt cast on universal healthcare, one of the government’s key election promises, Minister for Grand Bahama Dr. Michael Darville assures that it is on target for its April rollout.
“The first stage for NHI is already in process, the registration phase which is still on. The second phase in the enrolment phase and the third phase is the launch of Universal Primary Health Care. We’re on target and things are going extremely well,” he said.
“We’ve decide to go with a phase approach. First Universal Primary Health Care with selective catastrophic care then we’ll move on to the full package.”
According to Dr. Darville, the government has been working very closely with the National Insurance Board (NIB) and with the physicians who have signed up to provide service under the universal health care scheme.
“We have definitely spoken to the doctors who will be delivering primary health care and worked out mechanisms for capitation,” he said.
“We are finalizing that and we’ve already spoken to doctors who we’re using for selective catastrophic so things are really moving.”
Technology is a crucial part of NHI’s efficiency so in this vein focus is also being placed on the right technological platform.
“That is being worked out first of all by PHA where we have all script and another company responsible for delivering the digital medical record which will flow seamlessly from island to island with the patient.”
“Then secondly we need to integrate that with NHIA which is the authority that will be working very closely with the private insurers as well as all of our public insurers to make sure we can deliver a quality time sensitive product that the Bahamian people could be proud of initially.”
According to Dr. Darville, the government is also awarding numerous contracts to upgrade facilities to match NHI requirements.
This is to ensure that the Family Islands are able to benefit from the healthcare program.