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Submitted by Trained Economist

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Minister of Health Donville Inniss

Over the past few months there has been much discussion and media coverage of issues related to health care policy in Barbados.  Despite the volume of media coverage I remain unclear as to a number of issues, which  restricts my ability to adequate assess the health care policy issues being raised.

From what I have been able to glean there are three issues out there:

  1. Only nationals and permanent residents are now entitled to free health care in Barbados.
  2. Persons eligible for free medications who choose to purchase such medicines at a private pharmacy are now required to pay the processing fee charged by the pharmacists to public patients and previously paid by the government.
  3. A number of changes have been made to the drugs on the formulary and medicines previously available free of cost are no longer available free of cost.

I would like some clarity on the following issues:

  1. Was residency status ever a requirement  for free health care in Barbados?  If so what residency status entitled a person to to free health care ?  The answer I am trying to get at here is whether or not we have a change in policy or enforcement of a previously existing policy?  Some follow up questions from a serious media outfit trying to inform its readers and/or listeners on issues, would be , why was the policy changed if it was in fact changed?  If there has been no change in policy, why was the policy not previously enforced and why is it now being enforced?  I am sorry, but I expect half decent journalists to seek out answers to these questions  if they are running stories on an issue.
  2. What is the purpose of the processing fee for public patients at private pharmacies?  Is it a fixed fee, a sliding scale or what?  How much is the fee?  The answer  am trying to get at here is why are the private pharmacies charging a fee at all for public patients, and how much  the government is saving by introducing a measure that will clearly generate some degree of inconvenience and or cost to persons.   Is the tax payer being fleeced by the private pharmacies?  Is the government being penny wise and pound foolish?  Is the policy change likely to impose a major financial burden on public patients choosing a private pharmacy? I am amazed that no such questions were posed to the Head of the pharmacy body quoted at length in a front page story in one section of the media on Sunday May 29.  As  a lay person reading that story the solution for the private pharmacists seemed obvious to me.  Wave the processing fee and get back the business.   I am sure I am way off base, but despite massive coverage of the issue I am unclear on a number of relevant issues.  I am sorry, but I expect half decent journalists to seek out answers to these questions  if they are running stories on an issue.
  3. Are there brand name and/or  generic alternatives available under the formulary to the drugs removed recently removed from the formulary? How many such alternatives are there in most cases?  Are there conditions previously covered from which there are no drugs on the formulary?  How much money is the government expecting to save from the changes to the formulary.  Even though I am personally inconvenienced I accept that you cannot run a free drug scheme without taking  advantage of opportunities to source drugs at a lower cost.  Alternative drugs don’t work well for everyone, but the answer I am trying to get at is whether or not patients have at least two or three alternatives to the drugs removed from the formulary?  Are doctors and pharmacists making patients aware of these alternatives (if there are any).  I am sorry but I expect half decent journalists to seek out answers to these questions and publish them if they are running stories on an issue.I mean despite all the coverage and discussion there has not been a single story about the merits of generic versus brand name drugs.  The newspapers and call in programs are not serious.

I am really disappointed in the media coverage of this most serious and personal of issues.  Health care is not an issue to sensationalize or focus on headline grabbers.  It requires some serious thought and discussion.  I am at the stage where I wonder what is the point of buying a paper.

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181 responses to “Demystifying Government’s Healthcare Policy”

  1. smooth chocolate Avatar
    smooth chocolate

    @the Scout | May 29, 2011 at 4:49 PM |
    I went to restock my medication… i now have to purchase the drug … that cost is over $ 100.00….The elderly, who has contributed so much to this country, is now being shortchanged by this government.”

    ur comment does not make sense to me unless u are over 65 and if ur are why do u not utilize the polyclinic, instead of paying a $100? if u choose the private pharmacy, then don’t complain. if u are not 65 or older then do not make that comparison between u and the pensioners, their situation is different to urs

  2. smooth chocolate Avatar
    smooth chocolate

    @Christopher Halsall | May 30, 2011 at 2:50 PM |
    ” Why must so many workers work on only one thing at a time so very inefficiently?…Let me please put this on the table (again): the private sector pharmacies manage parallelism quite well.”
    Why can’t the public sector?’

    u are speaking from a lack of knowledge. have u ever taken the time to find out the various posts in the public pharmacies. which public pharmacy have so many workers working on only one thing at a time? to u looking in from outside, cannot tell but as long as it is a public pharmacy, then they have to be inefficient. the best and most highly qualified pharmacists are in the public pharmacies, they are the ones who scored the top marks at the BCC. the private pharmacies have the ones who chose to go private and the ones that were not up to scratch for govt. don’t take my word. check it out. u like most people would want to believe that the pharmacists in public pharmacies are inefficient. u are really fooling yourselves. the public pharmacies are under staff because there is a shortage of pharmacists, for this reason now, i am sure they will move away from hiring only those who got the top marks at the BCC. only recently Fast Track was being manned by the Director herself and other staff for lack of pharmacists. another one was closed too for lack of pharmacists… the bajan public love to walk around with blinders on their eyes. they get much better treatment in terms of pharmacist care at the public pharmacy and don’t know it until they use the private and the ones never using the public pharmacy think and believe the private pharmacy is the better. ur ridiculous but then again, ur like many people

  3. Chuckles Avatar
    Chuckles

    @ John Public

    You appear to be quite knowledgeable about what is going on in the legal drug industry. Can you tell me the difference in dispensing fee between a month’s supply of combination 5/160 mg Exforge and a month’s supply of the separate tablets 5 mg of amlodipine and a 160mg of diovan. By my calculation it is only
    one dollar. If the patient is a poor hand-to-mout Bajan ,according to the Nation, he/she still gets the medication without paying .

    Tell me a little bit more, does a patient remain on a particular medication for the rest of his/her life after being diagnosed with a chronic disease? If the answer is no, then wouldn’t that person have to change to another active ingredient in the same therapeutic class of drug at some stage? I have been diagnosed as hypertensive for quite a while and my doctors in England/US/Barbados have put me on almost every class of hypertensive drug , trying to find out which one I tolerate best. I read in a USA Today paper in 1997 that Blacks tolerate Diovan better than most other hypertensive drugs and it also is protective of the kidneys. I don’t remember what class of drug I was taking at the time but when I returned to Barbados, I asked my doctor if he could try Diovan although my pressure was under control and I had no side effects from the one I was taking. He was very cooperative and ever since then, I have been on a Diovan-based drug either in the combination form or separately. The truth is I would try any other class of medication apart from an ACE Inhibitor if the Diovan doesn’t work in the future. I have read too many negative things about ACE Inhibitors on Blogs over the years, to give it a try.

    The company to which I referred, is a distributor, pharmacy, manufacturer, retailer etc. etc. .. I am sure that they were in possession of the list of drugs which were/are on the Formulary effective April 1st, 2011. They were/are just playing hard ball.

  4. smooth chocolate Avatar
    smooth chocolate

    @Christopher Halsall | May 30, 2011 at 3:07 PM |
    “Do you think based on private pharmacy experience 4-5 minute wait for a prescription to be filled is unreasonable?”

    which private pharmacy u ever went to and waited only 4-5 mins? unless u left the prescription? stupesssssssssssssssss let me know as i will not be going there. any pharmacist that fills my prescription, something so sensitive could only be a madman.

  5. smooth chocolate Avatar
    smooth chocolate

    @Just only asking

    how’s bonny pepper?

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @smooth chocolate

    You are correct 4-5 minute is aggressive even for private pharmacies. It was simply a scenario to make a bigger point to Chris.

  7. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Smooth Chocolate

    You know of what you speaketh. A log of bllogers blog in ignorance, that it why I had to enter the debate. People should stop palying politics with such a sensitive issue. Sometimes you wish that they keep their nonsense in their heads, but then again this is a democracy.

  8. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @David

    I think the use of the word reckless in the context is out of character, but then again you migh have used that emotionally charged world as a hidden code word, hope i am not correct.

  9. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Bonny

    Hope u all right.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @Just Only Asking

    The word may seem harsh but loose planning/execution on this project has the potential to impact well-being/lifes especially the aged.

  11. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    David

    I think you need to desist from talking about loose plannig, are you privy to what planning was involved in the project, and are you aware that projects are planned and in most cases they dont run to plan. Why do u think that there is cost overun on projects etc, not that there was poor or loose planning, Only when you have full control of all the variables can you predict with almost certainy the outcome.

    Have u ever plan and execute a Project and what was the outcome and what type of project was it?

  12. David Avatar
    David

    @Just Only Asking

    Let us look at the facts. The April 1 launch occurred with inadequate resources in place at the polyclinics.

    The fact the this is an area where catch up is being played tells the story.

    With better planning the launch should have been delayed until the resources were put in place at the clinics.

  13. Pearl Avatar
    Pearl

    Perhaps I’m naive but I still say a lot of the issues with this scheme are as a result of the advertising. As I said in my previous blog the early ads included age bands which inferred persons of under 16 and over 65 did not have to pay the dispensing fee.

    The next set of ads that I believe had the intention of clarifying the situation instead put a hard sell on the fact that if you went to the polyclinic the medication would be free. I’m sure you can remember that the pharmacist were a little upset with this advertising. I don’t think the Govt/Drug Service really understood the impact of the last set of ads would have on themselves.

    I also think the Govt or Drug Service did not take into enough consideration that so many people’s disposable income has been reduced due to increase in prices, high fuel costs and VAT etc. hence the increase use of the polyclinics etc for free medication and the Govt/Drug service basically got caught out and are now playing catch up.

    In addition I have heard a private doctor concerned because the patient level had dropped as some of the patients now attend polyclinics, so in addition to increase in demand of drugs being dispensed from Govt. institutions the demand on the Drs and nursing staff must be greater. If I remember Minister Inniss has already pointed out the high absence level in some of the polyclinics. I don’t think this scenario with more pressure on the staff is going to help. So where they may have saved money in one corner they could be losing money/man hours etc. in another.

    Although I understand the need to reduce/remove the wastage from the health service I believe that had the dispensing fee been introduced when ‘times are better’ financially for individuals, the movement from private pharmacies to Bds Drug service would have been a lot less.

    In addition I agree with one of your previous bloggers who highlighted that monies allocated for Constituency Councils could have been better spent on more important projects e.g. health care. Constituency Councils are for times when the economy is preforming well. Some are in place now and some of the money has already been spent. I don’t want to hear about walks they organised etc. I want to hear about the constructive things they are working on or have achieved, i.e. projects with schools, the elderly, the less fortunate, improving the environment etc………..

  14. me Avatar
    me

    @David | May 30, 2011 at 8:35 PM |
    the posts for more pharmacists would have been sought for a long time ago.the BDS could not just sit and wait for Civil Service, when other things were going on, i think that the post only got finally approved because Civil Service finally understood that they were really needed…therefore u cannot call it reckless at all

  15. me Avatar
    me

    @Just Only Asking & @Smooth Chocolate

    I appreciate your imput into an area of which i have little knowledge. hence, i will try to attend the town hall meeting tomorrow. i hope to get some answers there, i only thank God that i am strong and healthy but even so, i have no problem going to the polyclinic as i have been doing it my life. i find most pharmacists in the public pharmacies are quite well knowledged in the medication they dispensed, i like the fact that they take their time and counsel the patient, i do not get that that the private pharmacy..but my experience would not be someone else’s. i have been following the Drug Service thing for a while and do admire the Director who seems to have so much on her shoulders ad still manage to stand strong… the minister should be congratulated for taking the bull by the horns… it is ridiculous the amount of tax payers money going into health care and the amount of wastage of medications existing in barbados. i know of people who have died in barbados due, when a check was made of their medications, tables unopened were found in the medicine cabinets… and we complain? grow up barbados, peter pay for paul

  16. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    @ David
    And what is your point? The issue is not whether the Councils have been fully allocated, but the warped THINKING behind the willingness to cut $12m from BDS while putting money into bodies that are mere duplications. A quick glance of the Council’s core functions listed on the website confirm the lack of a clear direction for the $11m allocated so far.
    And for those who are conveniently unsure about how many have been established:
    http://www.barbadosadvocate.comnewsitem.asp?NewsID=16622

  17. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    As if we did not know already?
    http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/health/article-1392810/Mobile-phones-CAN-increase-cancer-risk-Shock-finding-major-study.html

  18. Rose Art Avatar
    Rose Art

    I am still perplexed. How can the Goverment mandate a processing fee (a tax in its proper description) in private pharmacies and Government owned and or operated pharmacies are exempt from having to charge such fee (or tax)?

    Leaping around in the dark, I agree with Owen and this Minister of Health is the chief leaper.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Dr. Douglin and the Head of the BDS will be on Q100.7 tomorrow morning from 9AM.

  20. Trained Economist Avatar
    Trained Economist

    I find that the debate lacks context. We had a decade of steady economic growth on the back of major publicly funded infrastructure projects and a real estate boom driven by international investors. There was then a global economic recession of epic proportions and tourism and capital flows from investors dry up. The barbados economy takes a hit and government revenues drop. As a result of the many publicly funded infrastructure projects of the last decade and expansion in govt expenditure, there was no money put down for a rainy day and government debt levels were relatively high. The relatively high levels of debt meant that if the government was to manitain investment grade credit rating, it had to watch its borrowing carefully.
    Faced with reduced revenues, largely in my view as a result of the major global economic recession and slow recovery, and a limited capacity to borrow, once the government decided it was not going to lay off workers, the government has decided to cut expenditures and find extra revenues. I see the health care and other policies in this broader context.

    Should the government have laid off workers instead?
    Could more have been done to keep the economy growing in the face of the great global recession and slow recovery in our major trading partners?
    Should the government abandon the investment grade rating so it can borrow more and not have to raise revenue or cut expenditures?

  21. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Trained Economist | May 31, 2011 at 11:43 PM |

    I find that the debate lacks context.

    Man we Bajans doan be concern bout contex an wirl recession an dem tings so.

    All we know is dat we did buyin name bran imports wen Owing an de BLP did in powa. Cars khaan done.We cud cut style. We cudda get money cause we cud get loan jus like de guvment.

    Doan tell we bout nuh wirl nutten. Wha happen out dey ent got nutten to do wid we.

  22. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Enuff
    You are very inconsistent in your reasoning, the point is you said the gov will spend $30 m on the councils, I have pointed out that your propoganda was wrong. based on the worst scare scenario if all the council functioned in a Financial Year it mean that the govt will spend that amount, all david was saying if all were not functioning the amount would be less.

    Have two questions for you, Owen created the Positions of Persanal Assistants and the govt had 27 seat one time. Their average salary incluing allowance,20% gratuity, int free car loan fixed travelling allowance and telephone allowance would have been about $75 000 – 85 000 per year per person. Multiply that by the amount of Persoanl Assistants hired yearly and then multiply by fourteen years and let me know how much wasted money was spent. Go further the Youth Commissioners were hired, didnt you have Community Development Officers find out what their average salary was over the period, then get the amount that was hired yearly and then multiply by 14 and get the amout of wasted money.

    I did it that way because your mathematics not good, If you cant get the results, i will get it for you.

    I dont want to get involved in partisan politics, but as researher i will present the facts it I had to, and by the way it was not David thet corrected you, it was the I, but please let us dael with the issue at hand.

    I know that david can handle himself, but had to comment on this. David and I would disagree from time to time, but he has to show me where I am wrong for me o concede.

  23. Rose Art Avatar
    Rose Art

    @ David

    Which politicians own the buildings (directly or indirectly) in which constituency councils?

    Sad to say but like everything else in politics in Barbados, the budget for the constituency councils is just; money for the boys.

  24. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Enuff
    You are very inconsistent in your reasoning, the point is you said the gov will spend $30 m on the councils, I have pointed out that your propoganda was wrong. based on the worst scare scenario if all the council functioned in a Financial Year it mean that the govt will spend that amount, all david was saying if all were not functioning the amount would be less.

    Have two questions for you, Owen created the Positions of Persanal Assistants and the govt had 27 seat one time. Their average salary incluing allowance,20% gratuity, int free car loan fixed travelling allowance and telephone allowance would have been about $75 000 – 85 000 per year per person. Multiply that by the amount of Persoanl Assistants hired yearly and then multiply by fourteen years and let me know how much wasted money was spent. Go further the Youth Commissioners were hired, didnt you have Community Development Officers find out what their average salary was over the period, then get the amount that was hired yearly and then multiply by 14 and get the amout of wasted money.

    I did it that way because your mathematics not good, If you cant get the results, i will get it for you.

    I dont want to get involved in partisan politics, but as researher i will present the facts it I had to, and by the way it was not David thet corrected you, it was the I, but please let us dael with the issue at hand.

    I know that david can handle himself, but had to comment on this. David and I would disagree from time to time, but he has to show me where I am wrong for me to concede.

    @David

    Each Pharmacy is staffed with atleast two qualified pharmacists, a pharmacy assitant and a clerical officer. As you would appreciate, pharmacists dealing with new patients will take a little while in counselling them , but as the they get accustomed to their clients, the length of time it toake to counsel will decrease.

  25. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Pearl

    The constituency councils are involved in the breakfust clubs, after school projects, sports and youth groups to mention a few of the projects.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    @Just Only Asking

    Thanks for the feedback on the hr resources at the clinics, sure Chris would welcome.

    Let’s see how tonight goes. Hope it does not descend into a partisan affair and the pros and cons are allowed to land on the table.

  27. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Rose Art

    If you have the answer place it on the blog and I shall investigate. I know some of the councils are housed in government buildings, we are blogging under pseudonyms so dont be scared tell us, tell us.

  28. me Avatar
    me

    Rose Art | May 31, 2011 at 7:41 PM |
    “How can the Goverment mandate a processing fee (a tax in its proper description) in private pharmacies and Government owned and or operated pharmacies are exempt from having to charge such fee (or tax)?
    Leaping around in the dark, I agree with Owen”

    if u agree with Owen then u agree with the present minister Donville Inniss. as far as i can remember the situation with the patient having to pay for drugs and dispensing fees was initiated with Jerome walcott, the then minister of health of the BLP. it was going thru the process but the 2008 elections put a stop to the BLP bringing it in. this government instead of scraping it followed up on it. in barbados, everything has to be BLP or DLP. look at the ignorance u said about this present minister. why don’t u go and ask owen and jerome about it, since it really started with them. but of course as they will make the people believe this all began with the DLP, why? they are only looking to back in.

  29. me Avatar
    me

    @Hants | June 1, 2011 at 12:46 AM |
    “All we know is dat we did buyin name bran imports wen Owing an de BLP did in powa. Cars khaan done.We cud cut style. We cudda get money cause we cud get loan jus like de guvment.”

    hahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
    i am in stitches and walking away slowly in tears. but these tears are sorrow. we are paying the piper now. oh for the those glory days, when we lived in fanticyful bliss. a time when we dreamed that we must have been dreaming. bring back those days.

  30. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    @ Just Only Asking
    For someone who purports to be a Researcher and quick to insult others’ arithmetical skills (though 12+-30 = -18), you ought to be more proficient in both areas.
    Firstly, my alluding to $30m was based on the mouthing of the late PM who spoke about $1m per Council. It had nothing to do with the $100,000 you used in your calculations. By the way 100,000 x 30 = 3, 000, 000 not 300, 000; but unlike you I don’t perceive that as a lack of ‘mathematical skills’ on your part but a mere typographical error.
    Secondly, according to the Estimates of 2010-11 and 2011-12 constituency empowerment received $5.5m and $5.425m respectively. But my numbers could be wrong so let me quote the late PM addressing the charter dinner and awards ceremony to mark the Lions Club East’s 22nd anniversary at Accra Beach Resort in February 2010:
    “… this year six million dollars was allocated to the programme. And, since the process of electing the right people and in a transparent way to the constituency councils has taken longer than we had anticipated, only a million dollars has been spent so far on the Constituency Councils Programme.” At the time of this address only SIX Councils were established, and I would assume the allocation he was referring to was 2009-2010.
    But if you are right and they do receive only $100, 000 in funding then that adds more weight to my argument that they are a waste of money because when operating costs and stipends to councillors (at least $20,000 per year) are factored in there is little left to finance constituency issues.
    You mentioned ‘projects’ undertaken by the Councils but they don’t represent empowerment in the context of governance. The election of constituency councillors and processes such as participatory budgeting and evaluation are true elements of community empowerment in the governance of their constituencies.
    Again I quote from the late PM’s address to the Lion’s Club East:
    A Council is important “not because it is a substitute for what any of the service clubs are doing; BUT because “there is no mechanism for you to call your parliamentary representative to account. There is no mechanism to encourage him in the event that he is allocating resources in a partisan way to encourage him to do it in a more transparent and accountable way.”
    Have Councils created these mechanisms? Read the latest Auditor General’s Report.
    I see no inconsistency in my argument. Yes there was an error on my part with regards to the amount allocated to the Councils so far BUT the gist of my post remains the same i.e. the introduction of a taxing mechanism in an effort to save $12m (despite the various difficulties posed for some citizens especially the elderly) while willing to establish Councils that serve no real purpose makes no sense and shows a lack of consistency, comprehensiveness and coherence in government policy.
    Personal Assistants
    I thought Personal Assistants were assigned to Ministers rather than MPs, and as far as I can recall there were never 27 Ministers in the Cabinet. But again I could be wrong. I do notice however that after 3 years in office the post of Personal Assistant to Ministers remains under the DLP and provision was made for 17 in the Estimates at the Z3 scale of approximately $63,800 per year. Since you profess to be non-partisan you should lobby for the disbandment of these posts.
    Youth Commissioners
    Clearly there was/is a need for specialised attention to be paid to the youth if not the government would not have launched a National Youth Forum (fete and all) with a steering committee or be working on a National Youth Policy. Do Youth Commissioners still exist?

  31. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Well said, enuff.

    Kill him/her with the truth and facts. Once you dont sing the DLP alleluia chourus, he/she demeans one’s contribution as if only he/she has a brain. But he could ask for Bonny Peppa who contributes nothing to this forum but cursing.

    When there was the big spat with Sparman. Ishmael and Minister Inniss, someone blogged under the name Verity and
    the blogging seems just like this one. We thought then it was the Minister himself. I wonder the same now?????

  32. Josquin Desprez Avatar
    Josquin Desprez

    @ Enuff

    Yuh really shooting.

  33. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    @prodigal son,

    Leff Bonny Peppa outta dis yuh hear. Because she does buse a few here and there wunna vex wid she. She does contribute to this forum, yuh aint gootta read she posts at all. Looka leff she outta yuh conversation doo!

  34. David Avatar
    David

    Enuff we look forward to a response from Just Only Asking especially since you have written one of your longest comments yet.

  35. the Scout Avatar
    the Scout

    What is happening is, some patients go to the QEH to find that a very critical medicine needed is off the list and their doctor will have to presribe a different one. When that doctor or another from that team is not available, the patient will then go to a private pharmacy and purchase the medication, this also happens sometimes when the government pharmacy is out of stock

  36. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @the Scout: “What is happening is, some patients go to the QEH to find that a very critical medicine needed is off the list and their doctor will have to presribe a different one. When that doctor or another from that team is not available, the patient will then go to a private pharmacy and purchase the medication, this also happens sometimes when the government pharmacy is out of stock

    There is another valid interpretation of the empirical evidence.

    Perhaps the “powers that be (but shouldn’t be)” want our old and sick to die.

    It is certainly cheaper to do so than keeping them alive….

  37. Rose Art Avatar
    Rose Art

    @Just Only Asking

    Do any Ministers in this Government or their very close friends own lands and buildings which house Constitutuency Councils and for which rent is paid by NHC?

  38. Rose Art Avatar
    Rose Art

    @ Me

    The problem with your blog is simple, the BLP never implemented a dispensing fee during its term in office. The public sector or members of the public sector might have be developing a plan to that (implement a dispensing fee) during the BLP administration but until approved by Cabinet or in Budget, it remained just that………..a plan.

    We had a perfectly good health care system that was working find, it took the DLP leaping around in the dark, to start damaging it.

  39. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Roseart
    If you were at the town hall meeting you would know that the dispensing fee or whatever you call it was around from the inception and it was paid by the government all along.

    @David

    were you at the meeting, and isn’t that what was said about the dispensing fee?

  40. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @David

    As I have oftentimes said, we have be careful what people say about their experience with the system that was put in place.

    At the meeting, this lady got up and said that she was on disability pension and she receives less than six hundred dollard a month to live on, and that she was on a medication that was on the drug formulary and was removed and that it noe costs her $74 for her medication and sometimes she does not have money to buy food or pay for her medication. She related a story that one day she went to get the medication and some one heard the conversation and pull out three ten dollars and told her that she could put the three dollars and something cents.

    It so happened that i was going to my car, and lo and behold I saw the said woman driving a car in excellent looking condition, a hatch back one and I said to her I though you couldnt afford drugs and you can afford such a vehicle and she responded giving me her name stating the said vehicle fully insured by Trident and that she reside at such and such a place, which is one of the older middleclass areas in Barbados.

    I cite that example to show the lenght people will go to lie for their party. I had a feeling she was a stranger to the truth because I sat behind her and saw how she was assisted in fabricating her story. I was saddened to see the length she went to get sympathy and discredit the new policy. It was clear she was used because three ladies who were wending their way to their cars heard what I said to her and they too concluded that she was planted to relay such a story. I return and spoke to the Editor of the Nation and told her that lady whose picture thay had taken and whose name was x as given to them was a fraud and if she was quoted or highlighted I would blog about it, but I decide to do it now. I am looking forward to see if she appears and I would put the name of the politicain she was conversing with on this blog

    This is as John 3.16, hope that is the correct reference.

  41. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @ Roseart

    I dont know, do you and if the answer is in the affirmative put the information on the blog.

  42. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @enuff
    I went back to your blog and you quoted $30 m and the point you were trying to amke that -$12M +$30 m will give you the positve$18M. Cite the publication or the record where the the then PM soke about $30m for the Councils. It is clear that mine was a typographical error yours is/was wrong.

    Go back to my blog, you fell for my trap, i never said that there were 27 Persoanal Assistants. I know what level they are at in the salary scale and I know that they dont have to have qualifactions and people in the z16-8 scale require degrees. I also know that only Ministers are assigned PA. My point still stand about the money they receive over the years. Do the math and refute the amount they each receive a year, but rember that you have to factor in the 20% GRAUITY in your computation, as well as the $500 montly in travel, in addition to the opportunity cost of the meny they receive as a car loan and the telephone allowance.

    You got the gall to tell me that the postions of youth Commissioners were necessary and the work could not be be done by the Community Devleoment Off icers. Most top Civil Servants thought that that was politcal, what are their role and function. By the way if you can look me in the eye and say the aformentioned positons can be justified, then you should have no diffulty in accpeting the rationale for the constituency councils. Remember that that also the post of Director and Deputy Director postions were created at the level of S4(THEN) and S6 repectively.In addition to the cost of housing them etc. I can get the cost if i really want to, but I wont waste time doing so. My point is to say you can see the cold in someone eyes, but the beam in yours you cannot see.
    By the way, the St. George South Constituency has undertaken a project in entrepeneurship training for people in the area.

    I dont have to lobby for the abolition of the positions I was showing you the double standards. By the way it is not salary alone they recieive, so get you facts straight if you want to take me on.
    So go and come again.

  43. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @Prodical (Son)
    I can handle myself, and need no one to come to my defense and dont have to blog for any docor. I have enough in my family and those are the ones i will represent.

    Claerly your stupity is so evident, that you can get here that you though a fellow blogger was the a minister and niw i have startged to blog you assume i am the one. David can tell you that i never blogged under the blog name you quote, but you should not be so simple minded. Deal with the issues.

    You, scout and enuff are at liberty to put your positions for your party, but i will continue to tear holes in what you put forward to make the DLP looks bad. You can decide whether I am a B or D
    an N.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @Just Only Asking

    Unfortunately BU couldn’t be present at the town hall and appreciate the feedback from you and others.

  45. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @david

    i am sorry BU was not present, the public was educated about generic and brand name and about the dispensing fees which were around everysene, but used to be paid by government for donkey “ears’

  46. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @David

    Kindly investigate if Chris Gollop and Wade Gibson have parted ways with the Nation and why?

  47. David Avatar
    David

    BU posted that info on the credit union blog a couple days ago. We have no idea why they were fired.

  48. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @DAVID

    Heard that their political point of views had something to do with it. Is the nation on its downward spiral?.

  49. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    @ Just Only Asking

    I will leave the BU family to discern what you were trying to portray with that claim about Personal Assistants.

    The Estimates only indicate the basic salary; AND my reason for listing the salary was to highlight that what you termed ‘wastage’ continues. It was not to justify or invalidate the post of Personal Assistant.

    By the way I do recall the ‘post’ of Political Advisor with a pay package rumoured to be over $100,000 per annum cropping up post January 2008. It would be nice of you to tell BU the full remuneration, qualifications and source of payment since you seem to know everything.

    Again I ask, if there is no difference between the problems affecting the youth and those of the rest of the population or the need for differing METHODS (i.e. personnel, style, forum) to be used to address such issues then why is there a National YOUTH Forum with an Interim Steering Committee comprised of all young people? Do you not see a parallel in the make-up of the Steering Committee and the youth commissioners?

    Interestingly, the much maligned Youth Commissioners still exist and are portrayed as valid in the current administration’s Draft National Youth Policy March 2011:

    “Youth Commissioners, Guidance Counsellors, Welfare Officers and Social Workers should work together to provide these services to communities, fully utilizing community centres.”

    “A considerable amount of research and resources have been devoted to Boys on the Block. Every Youth Commissioner has from time to time carried out research on those young men – and women – who assemble in communities to engage in a variety activities ranging from intellectual debates to selling goods and services of all types in order to earn a living.”

    “The Youth Development Programme was headed by a Principal Youth Development Officer, with four Senior Youth Commissioners supervising work in the 4 zones into which the country was divided. Each zone was covered by an average of 8 Youth Commissioners who catered to the needs of about 2,500 12 young people in each of the 32 districts. The objective of YDP was to address the concerns, issues, aspirations and prospects, of all young people within the mandated 9 to 29 years age group. It used a wide range of activities intended to lead to the social, economic and cultural development of youth. Those who did not belong to organized groups were reached through Project Oasis. This programme conducted periodic surveys and drew up and maintained a Directory of Youth and Community Organizations. It established itself as a research-driven response to the needs of young people at the grassroots level”

    You persist in highlighting projects by Councils that contradict their raison d’etre as outlined by the late PM, which illustrates your confusion and ignorance of local political empowerment versus that of a social and economic nature.

    It is clear from the speech I previously referenced that the late PM sought to promote the Councils as conduits for local communities to PARTICIPATE in the decision-making processes at the local level as oppose to just being able to access training in entrepreneurship.

    Your responses also demonstrate the failure of the government to clearly define, and put into practice, the role of the Councils; and therein lies the difference between the concept of Youth Commissioners vs. Community Development Officers, and Community Development Officers vs. Constituency Councils: SOME CLARITY. One can say that youth commissioners concentrated on a specific youth issue (read above) while Community Development Officers focused on the whole. What differentiates Councils from the work of Community Development, NAB, UDC, RDC, Welfare Department etc–the cleaning of wells, offering courses in entrepreneurship, disaster preparedness, breakfast clubs?

    Unfortunately, the act of handpicking councilors by the Minister(s) eliminated the chance of constituents being represented by persons of their choice hence their democratic involvement in the decision-making, and also further facilitated a lack of accountability and partisan allocation. So they will continue to be murky as mere service clubs duplicating the efforts of other government departments.

    Godspeed with your ‘hole tearing’.

  50. Just Only Asking Avatar
    Just Only Asking

    @enuff

    My role is not to seek the abolition of any post, bust to counter arguments like your et al. I speak from a positon of knowledge and I have access to any estimates, as well as what benfits people recive besides salarie so dont think that I pull figures out of my head.

    The Community Development Division had a scturcture in place, but the objective of the youth Commissioners and post associated there with was to create posts for party supporters who in some instances did not meet the minimun academic qualifactions for entry level post in the service, but were rewarded hansomely for their political ties. That decsion caused a lot of demotivation in the Ministry of education, and I should know. Take for example, one lady who sings calypso did not even have the qualifaction for that of a clerical officer. if I accept your agrument that there was a need for emphasis to be placed on youth development, the Community Department would have been be the department to expand to include the youths, but lo and behold a lot of persons with no skills were gving high paying jobs, including a former postman and believe me I know. Some of them were then sponsored to undertake a distance prgramme to qualify for appointment. to educate you, the youth commissioners were not trained in survey methods of social investigation, so you cannot claim that they undertake research. You mean that they administered the instrument.

    Before you speak get, the document and look at the compostion of the Council. Perhaps you should ask your party to nimonate you as one of its representiaves for you constituency since to date it
    has not accepted the offer to nominate persons. Your politcal blinkers are preventing you from understaning the role of the Council, thus i would just say to you that empowerment means arming people with the skills to improve their lot, therefore social, and economic variables must be considered when we speak about empowerment, not to be left out is the politcal aspect as well.

    How much money was Owen Arthur Personal Assitant paid? how much money was his wife paid and how did she get the job? and then dont forget the Scantlbury man. I can continue on and on.
    How much money was wasted on the Gem project, and did Berbnard St. jOHN AND david Simmons hotels enjoy the free money from the project? You got the audacity to lecture to me about wasteage of funds, what about Kesinton Oval, the RDC and Urban who spent money on those entities like if money was not a problem. Greenland, the three baths etc. etc., etc. etc..

    By the way, treat this as my last response to you on this matter as it will evenatually become repetitiv, unless a new thread is intoduce and i have to repsond from scratch.

    I guess people like you were disappointed that the Minister of Health did not get a lynching. He is too good for people like you and your party detectives. Dont ckoke on my response.

    Please do not be heartbroken that Donvil came out smelling like a rose.

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