Caribbean

Citation

(2006), "Caribbean", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 19 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2006.06219dab.001

Caribbean

Edited by Jo Lamb-White

Americas

Caribbean

St Lucia government moves towards universal health care

Keywords: Quality healthcare, Effective resource management, Healthcare access

Moves continue in St Lucia towards the inauguration of a new concept designed to make quality health care more readily available to St Lucians at cost prices.

The government of St Lucia, through the National Insurance Corporation (NIC), the Ministry of Health and other health service providers have been discussing the setting up a universal health care (UHC) programme that will provide residents with equal access to health care, defined in a published package of services and benefits.

UHC will ensure that residents have access to quality health services regardless of their financial status. Health officials lament the current high cost of medical services and the rising number of St Lucians who seek medical treatment without paying for them. According to administrator of the Vieux-Fort based St Jude Hospital Mr Paul Meroe, in most cases, government has to foot the bill.

The present situation, Meroe says, cannot continue. “The introduction of UHC is a beautiful development for VH as well as for St Jude.” According to the administrator who has severed at Golden Hope Hospital, Turning Point and Victoria Hospital: “the volume of exemptions that we have and the very fact that UHC will be covering everybody, those institutions stand a chance of recovering almost 100 percent of the services that are not being paid for at this point in time”.

The new system will be funded with a fixed tax on consumption goods. That proposed flat tax is a 3.5-4 percent increase to the environmental levy, which now stands at 1-1.5 percent. The name will be changed to health and environmental levy and will now be charged at 5 percent. Basic goods such as food and clothing have been exempted. The tax will raise an estimated $30 million, with government matching that amount as part of its overall contribution to health care.

Proponents of the concept say it is not perfect but it will level the playing field and greatly improve the ability of service providers like Victoria Hospital and St Jude to provide quality care.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Stephen King stated that right now there are serious problems in the health services, serious problems link to quality, financing, poor coordination, inequity, ineffectiveness and inefficiencies. In his words, “the healthy sector was built on three pillars, efficiency, effectiveness and equity. UHC is an ideal mechanism to achieve those objectives.”

For more information: www.caribbeannetnews.com