The cash flow challenges experienced by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) over the last few years are “under much better control”.
That’s according to Minister of Health, John Boyce. He told those attending the latest lecture of the Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture Series at the ruling Democratic Labour Party’s headquarters recently, that while all the hospital’s creditors and suppliers have not been fully satisfied, the process of settling those debts has greatly improved.
“That’s why we talk about health care financing, because we have to be able to pay our creditors. So the measures taken by the Ministry of Finance; the approaches and discussions we are having in terms of some kind of health care insurance; the National Social Responsibility Levy as it was originally designed etc, were all designed to help us be able to meet some of these creditors,” he explained.
Minister Boyce added, “It is obviously a buoyant situation which can sometimes go one way or another based on demand. Like everything else the hospital has its heavy times, the hospital has its slow times.”
Touching on the National Social Responsibility Levy, introduced last year to help finance the cost of health care in this country and which as of July 1, has moved from two to 10 per cent, Minister Boyce said this increase is indicative of a recognition of the need for funds to help meet the significant health care costs in this country. He made the point as he noted that the health care expenditure nationally is in the region of $750 million, 55 per cent of which is met by the State and almost half of that, he added, goes towards the QEH.
His comments came as he noted that the island’s main hospital is in high demand, with some 19,000 admission recorded annually, with the average length of stay being six to seven days; and, he said it costs the institution between $1200 to $2000 per day to care for those patients.
Boyce made the point as he noted that the QEH has always been a major source of expenditure for the Barbados Government, noting that between 2000 and 2007 the Barbados Labour Party Administration spent $887 million on the QEH, and between 2008 and 2015, the current Administration has spent $1.35 billion. (JRT)