Saint Lucians will soon experience the benefits of universal healthcare.
That is according to Health Minister Moses Jn Baptiste who recently indicated that the process has started.
“We have appointed a director for the universal healthcare programme and we are working very hard to ensure that we roll out universal healthcare,” he said.
The minister added that providing Saint Lucians with greater access to affordable healthcare remains a top priority for government. Further, government will also focus on a more inclusive health care system which includes the full range of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.
“We are very focused (on) our healthcare programme and elderly affairs mission. You will see the benefits very soon. In this year’s budget I’m sure you will hear a lot from the prime minister in relation to universal healthcare,” the minister said.
“We have a new team at the Millennium Heights Medical Complex and there are a few changes that have taken place; things are beginning to shape up (for) healthcare in Saint Lucia,” he added.
Last year, Jn Baptiste said government had taken concrete actions so Saint Lucia could have a sustainable universal healthcare system.
He said they were creating more opportunities for access to good quality healthcare at every level and “we want all the people to understand the system… the views of our people on Universal Healthcare is critical to the ongoing process of refining the system which we will eventually create.”
“Universal healthcare basically means that we want to increase access to quality health care to all people of St Lucia without making them poorer or without causing them to spend too much
money. When people access our healthcare, they should not feel the additional pressures. They should not feel that they have to spend a larger percentage of their budget on healthcare. They should feel that they are able to afford healthcare and they should feel that they can access the services of healthcare throughout the country,” the minister said.
Saint Lucia’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) journey started in 2002, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), noted in a report on its website, when government appointed a task force to consider the feasibility of introducing an unemployment insurance, a pension plan for Farmers and fishermen and National Health Insurance.
Some of the key achievements under this initiative included the acquisition of a Health Information System to support the UHC initiative, island wide screening of the population for diabetes where over 30,000 people were screened, and the initiation of the UHC Phase I Pilot Project which provided free medication for persons suffering with diabetes and with the co-morbidity of hypertension.