National Health Insurance talks begin

PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS on the establishment of a National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP) for Trinidad and Tobago will be held today at the Ministry of Health’s headquarters in Port-of-Spain. This was disclosed yesterday by Health Minister John Rahael who said it was Government’s vision to create a plan under which all citizens will have access to quality health care at any of the nation’s health institutions — public and private. Rahael told Newsday that a representative of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) arrived in TT last Tuesday and will hold talks today with senior Ministry and Regional Health Authority officials. The Minister said the PAHO representative is very knowledgeable about NHIPs in other parts of the world and today’s discussions will also examine similar plans currently used by public and private sector organisations in TT.  The establishment of an NHIP is a fundamental component outlined in the Health Sector Reform Programme.

Rahael said recent utterances by former Health Minister Dr Hamza Rafeeq and former North-West Regional Health Authority chairman Dr Tim Gopeesingh only reinforce the view held by the majority of health sector professionals that the former government’s decision to incorporate the Central Regional Health Authority into the NWRHA to achieve greater efficiency, had failed. Noting that all of the RHA’s chief executive officers hold monthly meetings and the population was the shareholder in all RHAs, Rahael said Rafeeq’s argument about “savings in terms of the cost of having two CEOs” did not hold water. The Minister reiterated that because too many facilities fell under the NWRHA, their operational efficiency had declined and thus it was essential to decentralise them.

“We are implementing what is necessary. You don’t have to collapse all into one,” he declared. Rahael added that Rafeeq was aware that the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex was a “referral hospital” to the hospitals in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Arima, Caura and Sangre Grande and not the “stand alone facility” he (Rafeeq) claimed it was. The Minister added that depending on the specific medical treatment, that procedure could be offered at several institutions rather than overburdening one institution with having to undertake all those procedures.