MPATT: Health sector needs $$, not Inquiry

The Medical Professionals Association of TT (MPATT) said more money, not a Commission of Inquiry, was necessary if Government wanted to make improvements in the health sector. MPATT questioned the validity of the inquiry into the health sector since a public consultation in 2001 by former Health Minister Colm Imbert had no outcome and the Auditor General’s reports on the Regional Health Authorities “have been largely ignored.” According to MPATT, other Commissions of Inquiry have taken place with no apparent resolution and the Medical Board Act was amended to “effectively lower the standard of medical care so that Cuban doctors could be imported.”

In a media release, acting president Dr Lakhan Roop agreed with Prime Minister Patrick Manning that the health services needed improvements, but he said, “The most important aspect of improving the health service is to increase the budgetary allocation from less than two percent of Gross Domestic Product to four to five percent.” He said this recommendation had been made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and appropriate dispersal of this expenditure would bring TT’s health service into developing first world status. Roop said this could not be achieved with Third World spending.

MPATT and the San Fernando Hospital Doctors Association wrote to the Health Minister last December with a detailed document “Spending in Health,” which identified the current deficiencies in the health sector. Roop said the document put forward relevant suggestions and possible solutions for problems. Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced the appointment of a Commission headed by former speaker Hector McClean to investigate the operations and delivery of public health services in TT. The Commission is expected to present a report to President Max Richards six months after its first meeting.