Director of the Pan America Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr. Carissa Etienne (left), arriving at the David Thompson Health and Social Services Centre yesterday, where she was greeted by Minister of Health, John Boyce (second from left), and other officials of the Ministry of Health.
Director of the Pan America Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr. Carissa Etienne, is commending Barbados for the contribution it has made and continues to make to the governance of that international agency as well as the World Health Organisation.
She offered the commendation yesterday morning, moments after she, accompanied by officials of the PAHO office here in Barbados, were led on a tour of the David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex by Minister of Health, John Boyce and officials of the Ministry of Health.
“We can always rely on Barbados to come to the meetings with a team that is very well prepared and that make important interventions and give important leadership to policy formulation and to
the definition of programmes.
I think this is extremely important for the Caribbean, the role that Barbados plays in advancing the issues surrounding small island developing states, and giving voice to those and articulating in a very strong way, in a very relevant way, drawing attention to the particular issues of small island developing states,” she said.
Dr. Etienne added that this country also always pays its quota payments on time, and this too she said is to be commended as the quota payments are necessary for the Secretariat to deliver technical co-operation, among other activities.
“Of course we also do significant resource mobilisation because the cost of delivering all of this technical co-operation is not met entirely by the member states and World Health Organisation. So we mobilise significant resources to enable us to deliver more technical co-operation to countries like Barbados and all of the other countries where we have offices and where we don’t have offices. Every member state has an allocation, there is a budget and there is a regional budget policy that states how much money minimum must go to every country in the region,” she said.
The PAHO head made the point as she noted that they have taken steps to reduce significantly the portion of the budget that stays in Washington and increased the budget at the level of the country offices.
Etienne’s remarks came as she said that “a lot of very good initiatives” are also taking place here as it relates to health care, and as such, she said that they often use this country as an example for many countries in the Caribbean region. Moreover, she said the facilities she visited in Barbados – the Psychiatric Hospital and the David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex are among the best she has seen. However, she said it is not just about the quality of the facility, but how well one organises comprehensive health services and ensures people have access to quality services; and in that regard, she said Barbados is doing extremely well.
Adding to her comments, Minister Boyce noted that Barbados’ success is also shared with its regional neighbours in times of need. In that regard, he said the soon to be completed amalgamated laboratory at Enmore, will not only be of benefit to Barbados, but will be of assistance to other regional countries. He made the point as he disclosed they are already in discussions with regional bodies to ensure that they can help to “provide capacity and coverage” for important tests that are required. (JRT)
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