THE treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounts for the majority of the allocated healthcare budget in Barbados.
This is according to Minister of Health, John Boyce, who said that the hemodialysis costs alone, either directly at this island’s premier health-care institution or via the healthcare services contracted out by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to private healthcare providers, runs in the region of $80 million on an annual basis.
“The treatment of non-communicable diseases of course, now takes up the majority of our healthcare budget and in the case of hemodialysis, we estimate that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital – either directly here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in our suite designed for this specialist treatment or in our services contract with private providers outside of the hospital – we spend in the region of some $80 million a year in this care of hemodialysis patients.”
Delivering the feature address at the handover ceremony of specialised equipment to the QEH yesterday in their boardroom, he stated that this works out to be about $45 000 to $50 000 per patient in a capacity where approximately 300 to 350 persons are being treated for this disease and this figure does not even include all of the persons who suffer from this disease as they believe that there are some in Barbados who they are not reaching.
“This works at about $45 to $50 000 per patient in an environment where there are some 300 (to) 350 patients who are being treated for disease. We are pretty certain that we are not necessarily reaching all of our patients in Barbados, but we hope that we can continue to provide the service and eventually, to be able to boast of effective coverage (and) treatment of this disease.”
Boyce stated that there are things which the general population of this island can do to reduce this high budget and this includes, among other things, adopting healthy eating practices and exercising on a regular basis.
“We however also want to encourage among Barbadians, the part that we can play in bringing this cost down and the part that we can play, especially by practising healthy lifestyles to make sure that we enjoy a better state of life when we reach that tender elderly years. So we encourage Barbadians to change their diets, we encourage Barbadians to engage in exercise programmes. We enjoy beautiful weather – sun, sand and sea is not only for our visitors, like our friends from China of course, but also for us Barbadians to enjoy. We think that this is something that can redound in a healthier country.”