The Queen Elizabeth hospital in Barbados will be increasing its fees for private services by an alarming seventy-five percent. This is according to the Minister of Health, The Hon. John Boyce as he was speaking in the House of Assembly as debate continued on the Government’s Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2014-2015.
Just recently, the CEO of the hospital, Dr. Dexter James revealed that outsourced dialysis care will likely now be a paid-for service as the hospital looked for ways to deal with a massive cut as announced in the Budgetary Proposals last year as well as massive debt owed to various pharmaceutical agencies across the island reported to be in the millions of dollars.
Boyce indicated that the 75% increase had been approved and that the some of the funds would be used to pay off suppliers and attempt to get the QEH back on a more solid financial foundation.
The beleaguered hospital has been going through some financial difficulties which have left it in debt to many suppliers in Barbados and afield.
“The QEH is going to open discussions with banking institutions so that we can put to work some of those fees that would have been approved….to repay a banking arrangement that will allow us to pay our suppliers’ monies on a constant basis all year long”, the Minister said.
The annual budget for the Ministry of Health this year is about $8 million less than last year’s and totals around $337.3 million. According to Boyce, the objective is to limit financing of the hospital to $180 million dollars.
According to the Minister, he had already met with various entities this was with a view to create a framework for “rolling out the first solutions”.
Boyce indicated that it was Government’s plan to continuously improve services at the QEH so that there would also be fewer requirements for people to seek treatment overseas.
The improvements will be across the board but will also include eye care, cancer care and dialysis, Boyce indicated.
The hospital’s budget was slashed in the Budgetary Proposals 2013 as laid in the House of Assembly by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. Chris Sinkler as wide cuts and austerity measures were introduced in Barbados. These cuts also included the imposition of tuition fees at the University of the West Indies in all faculties including Medicine.
