BARBADOS has been known to often have to send children overseas for a variety of paediatric cancers. In many cases telethons and other drives have had to assist with the mounting costs of health care for sick children who had go overseas for treatment. Caribbean children will now be able to access consultations in real-time through a partnership agreement between UWI and other players.
Caribbean children, through the Shaw Family Telemedicine Room at the UWI’s Clinical Skills Room at its Jemmott’s Lane location will now offer children from the Bahamas, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica through the Sick-Kids Initiative specialized treatment for cancer, as a result of the partnership between the University of the West Indies, the Centre for Global Child Healthcare at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada and Scotiabank.
Speaking to an enthusiastic gathering, Dr. Victor Blanchette, McCaig Family Medical Director, said that the objective of the initiative was to connect health care specialists in the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) in Toronto with their counterparts in the Caribbean utilizing modern technology such as telemedicine consultation in real time.
“These kids will be able to get quality care and consultations in real time and this knowledge transfer will redound to the benefit of all involved, especially the young patients he said. “We need to close the gaps in the assessment and care of children with cancer and serious blood disorders like sickle cell anaemia, not only between the partner countries of the Caribbean but also between these countries and Canada. This initiative will reduce the need for children to travel for treatment”, he reiterated.
Minister of Health, the Hon. John Boyce said that the new facility would help reduce a number of major limitations relative to cancer treatment which required more immediacy and welcomed the facility to Barbados while thanking all involved.
Claire Jordan, Head of Retail Banking at Scotia Bank shared that the Bank had donated CAN $1 million dollars to the SickKids Caribbean Initiative particularly as it relates to blood disorders and cancer. CIBC’s First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB), Rik Parkhill said that First Caribbean will donate US$1 million to assist in training medical professionals who treat paediatric issues.
