The constituency of St. Paul, long associated with the history of Antigua and Barbuda, is again making history; this time in another area of human development; the provision of healthcare services.
With the opening of the new Cobbs Cross Health centre on Monday afternoon, Health and Wellness Minister, Sir Molwyn Joseph, revealed that St. Paul has created history as the first area to have two new clinics opened in a single year. (The Liberta Clinic opened earlier in the year following extensive refurbishing and repairs).
Sir Molwyn noted that politics is based on candidates making promises to communities when they are seeking votes, but as a politician for almost forty years, the current ABLP Administration is the first that he is aware of that consistently delivers on its promises.
“While we all agree that education is an important facet of development, health has to be a top priority as without it the nature suffers. So health was made a priority by the prime minister, thus, when in the first year of my appointment as minister of health, I discovered that all the keys diagnostic equipment – MRI, CT-Scan and Mammogram etc. – were all out of operation, it was the prime minister who asked the question; how much would it take to get these machines working again. He told me that he would make US$10 million to purchase new equipment or to have those that were there repaired,” Sir Molwyn revealed.
Additionally, the health minister further revealed that when he took up office, all twenty-three of the clinics were in some form of disrepair; meaning that they required extensive repairs or to be rebuilt totally.
Today, Sir Molwyn disclosed a total of seventeen of the clinics have been repaired or rebuilt with only six of these facilities that require attention.
“The most important healthcare agency comprises the nation’s clinics. If you have strong primary health care service that is well-developed, well-supported with both nurses and diagnostic equipment, you could reduce the burden of the tertiary health facility such as SLBMC by at least twenty-percent. This would allow you to redirect the traffic away from SLBMC. So the idea why we are here today, is to ensure that we have a robust primary health care system,” he explained.
Sir Molwyn announced plans to expand the services that are offered at both the Liberta and Cobbs Cross clinics to add equipment for testing of blood and even a CT Scan. “The idea is that everyone should not have to go at SLBMC for these types of diagnostic services,” he stated.
According to Sir Molwyn the government intends to provide clinics that will provide sustainable services to the people of Antigua and Barbuda over the long term.
