BY DESTINY JOHNSON

The Davis administration, through the Ministry of Health and Wellness plans to
launch an emergency medical ground transportation system for the Family Islands.
Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Micheal Darville made the announcement this past
Monday during the launch of the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Trained Clinical
Nurses Programme and said the move will soon end the days that residents on the
Family Islands “throw their loved ones on the back of a truck” to take them to the
airport for air transport.
“We have from the PHA Academy graduated a class of Emergency Medical
Technicians and I’m so pleased that today we will be commissioning three new
ambulances with more to come; and I’m also pleased to say that our Emergency
Medical Program across the archipelago is going extremely well. I intend to launch it
very soon, and this will transform ground transportation throughout the country,” said
Dr Darville.
“The days will soon be gone when our loved ones in the Family Islands throw their
loved one on the back of a truck and take them to the airport where they can get air
transport.
“We are going to implement an emergency medical transport system, ground transport
system, across the archipelago.
“And I am so pleased that finally the procurement process to purchase all these
ambulances that will be deployed throughout the Family Islands is near completion
after 22 months.” Dr. Darville said.
Just last week the PHA responded to complaints of the lack of ambulances in the
Family Islands. Its statement followed the revelation that there were no ambulances
in West Grand Bahama during emergency.
In January of 2022, following a deadly crash on Long Island that claimed the life of
three young men, Dr. Darville noted that there were concerns, “I believe the days are
gone when individuals who are in any sort of traumatic event is placed on the back of
a truck and tried to get to the facility of the airport; I believe we must do better.

“I think we must find a better way for emergency medical services on our Family
Islands and as a matter of fact, we intend to bring a paper to address that; address the
manpower shortages at our clinics,” Dr. Darville said.
In addition to the launch of the ground transportation system, he said the government
is acquiring more medical practitioners to fill the medical gaps.
“In a few weeks, we have a wide cross section of allied healthcare professionals
coming from other parts of the country.
“I have biomedical engineers coming, I have physiotherapists coming, I have lab
technicians coming, I have x-ray technicians coming to build our system into a system
that we can provide better quality healthcare services throughout the country.
“As I speak, I’m renovating and near completion of the Alice Town Clinic; I’m near
completion of the Elizabeth Estate Clinic. We are finalizing our design plans for the
South Beach Clinic; I’m near completion of the Blue Hills Clinic. All in an attempt to
improve the quality of healthcare services across the country.”
According to Dr Darville this is just the beginning of the revolutionization of
healthcare in the country.