Senator Henry Fraser: Healthcare Slide at the QEH

Professor Emeritus Henry Fraser

Professor Emeritus Henry Fraser

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is in the news again. Professor Emeritus Henry Fraser made the announcement this Christmas week that the crisis at the QEH requires Minister of Health (MoH) John Boyce to meet with Minister Chris Sinckler as a matter of urgency. Of course this is the same MoH who boldly stated during the last budget debate that the deep cuts to the Ministry of Health budget would not compromise healthcare delivery.

Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner in response to the criticism offered the view that the QEH remains the best primary healthcare facility in the Caribbean. BU has no way to assess the veracity of Sandiford’s statement however one has to ask if Barbados should not hold the QEH to our high standard. Why should Barbadians retreat to accept benchmarking against healthcare systems in the region which have always looked to Barbados as the standard bearer?

It is instructive to remember that Fraser is an Independent Senator and Senator Sandiford-Garner is government appointed. The question to the BU family et al – who should we believe? Some issues CANNOT be about politics, the good health of a nation is a wealthy of a nation after all.

122 thoughts on “Senator Henry Fraser: Healthcare Slide at the QEH


  1. I believe every word of Sen. Fraser. Irene Sandiford -Garner and the Minister of Health think that Bajans are fools. The hospital is in a mess. Senator Fraser is a professional. and not a political pimp. He has gained the respect of his medical colleagues over the years so they would tell him what is going on in the hospital..


  2. RE Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner in response to the criticism offered the view that the QEH remains the best primary healthcare facility in the Caribbean.

    CLEARLY THIS WOMAN IS A FIRST CLASS MORON WHO HAS NOT A CLUE WHAT A HOSPITAL OUGHT TO BE?

    CLEARLY SHE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT PRIMARY HEALTHCARE IS, OR WHERE THE STRENGTH OF OUR PRIMARY HEALTHCARE LIES.
    IT BOGGLES THE MIND THAT IN 2013 WE HAVE WOULD BE PARLIAMENT OR THE SENATE WHO WILL EXCUDE BOVINE EXCREMENT SO CONSISTENTLY IN SUCH HIGH CONCENTRATIONS.

    RE It is instructive to remember that Fraser is an Independent Senator and Senator Sandiford-Garner is government appointed.
    Rather It is instructive to remember that Fraser is a Barbados scholar, and a man who has excelled at his chosen profession, and has a good idea about which he speaks.

    It would behove this idiotic woman to just shut up, and listen and see if she can learn even a wee wee bit.

    A HOSPITAL IS/OUGHT TO BE A CENTER FOR TERTIARY CARE

    PROVISION HAS BEEN MADE IN BARBADOS SINCE 1985 THAT PRIMARY AND MUCH SECONDARY HEALTH CARE CAN BE DONE AT THE POLYCLINICS. SOME FOLK WHO CAN PAY GET SUCH CARE FROM THEIR GENERAL PRACTIONERS

    THE DAYS WHERE PEOPLE SHOULD BE RUSHING TO THE QEH FOR EVERY THING HAVE LONG GONE

    IT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED ON BU SINCE EARLY 2008 A REASONABLE ZONING SYSTEM WHERE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY HEALTH CARE OUGHT TO OCCUR IN BARBADOS

    MEASURES TO PERFECT SUCH A SYSTEM WAS ALSO PUBLISHED HERE ON BU IN EARLY 2008

    IT IS INSTRUCTIVE THAT MY SUGGESTIONS ARE BEING FOLLOWED VERY CAREFULLY IN ST LUCIA. I KNOW BECAUSE I SAW IT AT WORK AND WAS A BENEFICIARY THEREOF.

  3. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2013 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad on said:

    Iceland Jails Bankers, Erases Citizens’ Debt, Recovers Strongly
    disinfo.com


  4. Henry Fraser pointed out recently on Barbados Today that the QEH is only 47 years old, and that its outside walls are strong. He pointed out also that there are in the developed world many famous hospitals that are well over 100 years old.

    Before the Dems lost power in 1994, they had refurbished and made the former St Joseph hospital into a functioning hospital The BLP then closed it.

    bOTH the St Joseph hospital AND QEH NEEDS TO BE REFURBISHED AS A SPECIALTY HOSPITAL

    IN ADDITION AT SOME OF THE SITES OF THE POLYCLNICS THERE IS LAND AREA FOR EXPANSION BY ADDING ON WARDS FOR OTHER SPECIALTY HOSPITALS

    AT A TIME WHEN THINGS ARE HARD IT BOGGLES THE MIND THAT 15 MILLION IS BEING SPENT ON A FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR AN UNECESSARY BIG FANCY HOSPITAL…………….IN THE SAME WAY THAT MUCH FOREIGN EXCHANGE WAS WASTED ON THE KAISER FOUNDATION STUDY PRIOR TO THE START OF THE PROMISED NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE.

    PLEASE KINDLY NOTE THAT I DID NOT RECEIVE ONE CENT FOR MY PROPOSALS THAT USHERED RUNNING THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE.FROM A SYSTEM OF POLYCLINICS.
    WE JUST NEED TO LEARN TO K.I. S. S –KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!


    • Listening to the MOH when he announced that the government will be begging for 15 million to do the feasibility study, he went on to give some insight. He stated that Barbados has come of age and user fees will be levied to support services on offer.


  5. I have absolutely no reason to doubt Professor Fraser when he complained about the lack of supplies at QEH. In May this year a very dear friend of mine was terminally ill at QEH and we had to carry for him something as basic as toilet paper.

    However, when he rejected the idea of building a new hospital and suggested that the QEH be upgraded, he was way out of his depth. During the last days of the Arthur administration, government contracted the services of an international consulting firm to do a study on the QEH to determine the feasibility of refurbishment, partial refurbishment or the construction of a new hospital. The consultants determined that the hospital was in such poor shape that the cost to refurbish the existing structure would be almost as much as that to build a new one.

    The DLP came to office and found plans in place for a new hospital and decided follow through with those plans. My concern however is: Why would the Minister of Health be proposing to do a study for $15 million when the work has already been completed by the BLP for $5 million?


    • “International consultants” are known to offer kick backs as part of the standard cost of doing “international” business.


  6. HOW CAN WE PAY 15 MILLION ON A FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR A NEW HOSPITAL, WHEN WE CANT BUY TOILET PAPER AND NECESSARY DRUGS FOR THE QEH?

    IS JOHN BOYCE AND THE DLP DRUNK OR DEMENTED?


  7. RE During the last days of the Arthur administration, government contracted the services of an international consulting firm to do a study on the QEH to determine the feasibility of refurbishment, partial refurbishment or the construction of a new hospital. The consultants determined that the hospital was in such poor shape that the cost to refurbish the existing structure would be almost as much as that to build a new one.
    THE BLP ALSO PAID THE KAISER FOUNDATION LOTS OF MONEY TO COME TO BARBADOS AND SUBMIT A REPORT IN WHICH THEY GATHERED AND USED THE INFORMATION OF LOCAL PERSONEL ON THE GROUND

    WE LOVE THE FALLACY OF THE UNEXCLUDED MIDDLE

    WE THINK QEH OR A NEW HOSPITAL

    ANOTHER IDEA IS A SERIES OF SMALLER HOSPITALS

    BUT WE LOVE TO ERECT LARGE EDIFICES


  8. The consultants determined that the hospital was in such poor shape that the cost to refurbish the existing structure would be almost as much as that to build a new one.

    If the statement above by Caswell is correct (and I have no reason to doubt him) perhaps the Gov’t should be transparent and announce that it is better to mothball the current Hospital than to retrofit it at significant costs.

    Question, what is it about Bim that we can’t seem to build structures that last for an extended period? There seems to be an absence of long term planning in the execution of these projects first the Hilton was built and demolished and now the building housing the QEH would not pass the building code in any developed city in the world -so much for the Senator stating that it is the best primary facility for health care in the Caribbean- I wouldn’t like to see the others.

    One last point, running a hospital is a very expensive proposition and Hospitals up here can supplement their income by charging exorbitant fees for parking etc. They also have benefactors who are not shy about donating millions of dollars to them in exchange for “naming” rights for some facility and one hospital has an annual lottery with tickets @$100.00 each which is oversubscribed each year. The only benefactor the QEH has is the Gov’t and by extension your tax dollars so when Gov’t coffers are empty the QEH will suffer.


    • Sarge
      Are you aware that the tax payers now pay thousands of dollars a month to Bizzy Williams to rent the facilities that now house the Ministry of Culture ..?


  9. SARGE
    THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE HILTON; AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE QEH

    THE QEH WAS NOT BUILT FOR THE EXPANSION WHICH IT HAS EXPERIENCED. IN FACT IT HAS DONE VERY WELL
    WE LIKE KNOCKING DOWN BUILDINGS IN BIM TOO MUCH
    MODIFY THE QEH AS A SPECIALITY HOSPITAL

    WE HAVE THE EYE CENTER
    OBS & GYNAE ON THE A FLOOR
    ENT ON THE B FLOOR &………..?????
    MEDICINE ON THE C FLOOR


  10. THE QEH WANTS MANAGING BY PRACTICAL FOLK
    NOT THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH–THEY ARE INCAPABLE

    THERE IS NO PROBLEMS WITH MANAGEMENT OF BAYVIEW IM SURE


    • Georgie Porgie

      The QEH is not even structurally sound. Don’t you remember when they attempted to fix the A&E some years ago it started to crumble and a new one had to be built. They found chicken coop wire in the foundation. Don’t you recall that at one stage bricks were falling from the ceiling in some wards. Also some operating theatres leak.

      What is so desirable about retaining a structure that cannot accommodate the new medical equipment. I understand your fears: you are worried that all the money voted to build a new hospital might not be spent on the project.

      >


    • When did you become an engineer Caswell?
      There are buildings hundreds of years old all over the DEVELOPED world – some with straw, rather than chicken coop wire – that continue to be used for modern purposes, including hospitals.
      Is it not OBVIOUS that if you ask a FOREIGN consultant for an opinion you will get what you want as a recommendation?
      Bushie is surprised that they did not recommend we rebuild with Italian marble and stone from the Swiss Alps….. Damn idiots…
      Bushie bet you that they did not ask Grenville for an opinion……his mouth too ready….


    • @Bush Tea

      On the mention of the name Grenville listened with interest to his view that the significant construction work available locally is being procured by one interest group.


    • You have to understand how corruption works in this country. We have two parties in this country that are unable at times to pay their light bills. Then an election is announced and all of a sudden, these parties can afford millions of dollars in advertising and other campaign expenses. Where do you think the money came from? You know what they say: He who pays the piper calls the tune. In his case, he who pays for the campaign gets the contracts.

      >


    • Bushie

      You may be right about old buildings all over the world but they are not crumbling.

      Oh, by the way, I did not suddenly become an engineer. I am only relaying information that was given to me by the engineers who are afraid to blog.

      >


    • Bushie cannot understand you Caswell!
      How can you so accurately outline the BASIC problem that we face in leadership in Barbados (the fact that BOTH political parties are FOR SALE to the moneyed class of the island) and completely ignore Bushie’s solution of BUP??
      Wha happen…YOU SUDDENLY FRIGHTEN? !!
      Shiite man Caswell!!! Face up to your calling….who else can stop that shiite?


    • Bushie

      Frighten! I don’t know the meaning of the word. But you are behaving as though you don’t understand Bajans. Three years ago, I started Unity Workers Union and to date I am still struggling with 290 members but, every day I receive queries from members of other unions who have no confidence in their organisations. Yet still they remain with those discredited unions. Bushie, I can’t have too many irons in the fire.

      >


    • Because then it would be too OBVIOUS that the whole thing is just a scam to fleece money from public funds.
      …the people are brass bowls …not idiots.


    • Hi Caswell
      The reason that those OTHER old buildings are not crumbling is that they are MAINTAINED systematically. You see, the people who manage them are not brass bowl idiots like ’bout here. They realize that it is better to CONSTANTLY maintain and upkeep, …than to knock down and rebuild and remain poor…..
      I know you work with facts, but most engineers in Barbados are COWARDS who know the facts but whisper them only in tight circles… Besides, many of them have vested interest in having large construction projects coming on stream…. Wink wink!!


  11. On the back page of “Barbados Today” dated 08 October, 2013, the headline screamed: “QEH SAFE”. I asked then, and I am asking again: How safe is it? Was the Minister of Health referring to its structure, and inventory? That’s all he could mean – and not even that, because I have learned from a reliable source that one or the other of the lifts is not in operation sometimes! Has Sen. Irene Sandiford-Garner inspected all of the health care facilities in the Caribbean recently after the Minister of Finance, in his wisdom, cut millions of dollars from the funds to be allocated to the QEH? I do not think that funds to our lone hospital should be cut as mainly the lower echelons of our society depend on it too much! The same goes for funds to education!


    • Anthony Davis

      You should realise by now that both parties treat the lower echelons of our society a expendable. They are only needed for the vote.

      >


    • @Caswell

      You need to life your eyes onto the hills….

      It is the political system which breeds the interest groups and most favoured and NOT the politicians. They are human after all .


  12. @ Bush Tea | 26/12/2013 at 7:48 am |
    “Because then it would be too OBVIOUS that the whole thing is just a scam to fleece money from public funds.”

    In the absence of “honest” information coming from the MoH your position is the only conclusion that can be reached at this stage.

    The previous MoH publicly declared only a few months ago that the Cabinet of Barbados had agreed to the proposal to construct a new hospital and Kingsland was the preferred site identified for its construction.
    Even the estimated cost of construction was established with the next stage one of arranging the finance.

    How a decision of such magnitude could have been reached by a Cabinet full of highly “educated” people (at the country’s expense) without ‘feasibility” studies being conducted in the first place? As you said this is just another “scam to fleece” the taxpayers out of millions before these liars leave the scene.

    Shouldn’t we be ‘sincerely’ calling into question the integrity of the previous MoH and reject anything on which he pronounces during his current incarnation?


  13. I would believe Dr. Fraser…as usual the DLP members remain in denial, what they ought to understand is that the fantasy of yesterday is over, it’s back to life and back to reality…Dr. Fraser is just asking for better, constant upgrade and consistent best of care, if possible, he was not comparing the QEH to others in the Caribbean, is the education in Barbados not helping people to understand anything, does that too need an upgrade..


  14. I have seen many buildings falling apart in Barbados over the years, they seem to fracture easily,I don’t know if it is poor quality concrete, the number of pours put together, or the weakness of the base but concrete buildings should not be so easy to fall apart. Sorry Alvin, in Canada the weather is extreme and everything is solid, unless it was built by the thieves at the Olympic stadium. If the pig story was sticks ,straw. and marl we may have had a different ending.


    • When are we going to get it through our skulls that politicians can only manufacture solutions and generate thought processes within the boundary of a narrow frame of reference.


  15. I believe Sir Henry Fraser. Its a no brainer.

    The DLP have been telling us everything is ok for months and years and now look! I don’t know what they can do to regain credibility.

    What happened with St. Joseph hospital? Wasn’t some American or Canadian company going to take it over and run it as a private hospital?’


    • @ Pearl
      The truth is really quite simple.
      1- The main function of politicians is to open functions and give some speech (it is the ONLY way that you can get CBC TV coverage)
      2- the politicians are not very bright (else they would have good jobs where they did not need to face such abuse) so they have speeches written by public servants
      3- the public servants resent being bossed around by such brass bowl idiots – so they write bare shiite ….making them lie, contradict themselves, and generally look like asses… (The POLs are not bright OK. 🙂 )
      4 – Additionally, every white person that comes by with some scam becomes immediate NEWS for the next function

      Do like Bushie….treat them like Trevor Eastmond…..


  16. Why do we believe Dr.Fraser because he is an “expert” but have difficulty believing the engineering “expert”? I know,once ‘politicians’ involved it must be scam right? I guess Dr.Fraser is not political…lmao.


    • YES, that 3S was a fly-by-night scam company put together to execute a project without a plan.
      You have new information Enuff?


    • @Ping Pong

      Pushing the agenda to complete the St. John Polyclinic was political, period. When will we learn.


  17. Does anyone care to comment on the now stalled again St.John Polyclinic and the money which could have been spent refurbishing some part of the QEH ?


  18. @Caswell, keep your ears to the ground as it relates to this NUPW proposed vote/referendum on a 3% wage cut for I assume all public servants. Put ‘we’ Unity Workers lawyer/s on notice to head to White Park Road. If Unity members get lay off, they cant go to fatted calf to get any of meat. That calf is bare bone by now.


  19. HOW MANY INNOCENT BAJANS ARE DYING IN QEH HOSPITAL LEAVING THEIR FAMILIES WITHOUT RECOURSE TO EVEN BASIC ANSWERS OR EVEN LITIGATION?

    We can argue about the semantics all day long guys but the above question is as fundamental as the toilet paper we need to wipe our backsides – but then if you leave it up to those who “SPIN” the propaganda – you wouldn’t think that certain individuals actually even take a “SHIT” or smell for that matter!

    What a JOKE!

    PLANTATION DEEDS would be able do more justice on this point than I would be able to do!

    The LIES, INTRIGUE & shenanigans of those in power (and in this case, the rubic moves from beyond the politicians to so-called clinicians) men who PLAY GOD with people’s lives – believing that because they spent years studying a whole host of CRAP that often times they will never really apply even in the practice of getting sick people WELL – with the administration of DRUG policy overshadowing true HIPPOCRATIC practice!

    DOCTORS today are bureaucrats – paper pushers ticking bloody boxes! They are puffed up with self-aggrandized humanistic knowledge that does [precious] little to save lives.

    BIG PHARMA is their “god”! Public health p[olicy] has become a JOKE! It’s all about $$$$$$ & CENTS! The old adage of an ounce of PREVENTION has flown the flipping coup!

    Mass public education to enlighten a DUMBED-DOWN populace is now frankly non-existent! So our people get sicker and sicker with AMPUTATIONS from DM being rife! Modern lifestyle diseases continue to ravage even the young. Heart disease (from bad habits); strokes and every cancer under the sun sucks the life-blood out of a people that ought to be the healthiest in the world!

    So most end up being CUT, POISONED or BURNED!

    For those doctors who are AWAKE, they know that these 3 diagnostic tools used in modern medicine do not work to curb disease! They are stop-GAP measures! They are plasters on a gangrenous lesion!

    For example, ask your GP why he would NOT take CHEMO if diagnosed with the BIG C?

    Interesting the answers that come out from these bastards!

    Those who are AWAKE know that radiotherapy should never be part of clinical protocol given that 4 year window of cancer recurrence in some other part of the body! Too much research to support this finding!

    Modern medicine totally overlooks the EFFICACY of DIET & NUTRITION in the body’s vascular system to heal itself without the intervention of any of the above specious treatment protocols!

    BLIND GUIDES! Leading fools down to the graves untimely! What a JOKE!

    But the day is coming when “DOCTORS” will be made redundant because of what is coming to our world – answers that medical science won’t be able to answer and as the NATIONS AWAKE to the diabolical effects of what gory medicine have created – many will recognize the authenticity of SELF-MEDICATION!

    But if it left up to our bleeding politicians – we won’t have the rite to SELF-MEDICATE!

    Time to WAKE UP GUYS!


    • Brilliant ANON…..100%
      Shiite man, if you continue in this vain Bushie will retire from BU in 2014 and just read your posts….
      ….LOL
      ….Besides this is SURE to piss GP off… 🙂


  20. Walcott, who is one of Barbados’ leading surgeons said: “On many occasions while I was Minister of Health I tried to dissuade people from using the health service and by extension the QEH as a political football. I was incompetent, the Government of the day did not know what they were doing, and even a former moderator on a call-in programme held similar sentiments. So I was surprised to hear the Leader of Government business in the Senate, Senator Maxine McClean saying that running a hospital was a tough job.

    “And it certainly is. We hear the Minister of Health John Boyce speaking about this secondary health institution when QEH is a tertiary health institution. It says it repeatedly. When speaking about removing the QEH from a political football we moved towards establishing a board. We thought that the stakeholders should be involved. We established a ten member board. Three persons being selected by the minister and seven, the majority representing various stakeholder interests. DLP believed that this was wrong, but two days before the Christmas the chickens have come home to roost. Suffice it to say, six years later with all of the ideas, this enlightened management, enlightened Government in terms of health care, we are faced with essentially the same issues,” the Opposition senator added.
    bdostoday


    • In Barbados recently, a 22 year old died one month after giving birth at the QEH, at the QEH. The QEH had sent her to the psychiartric saying she had post partum depression (she did after her first birth). She told the Dr. there, that she was not feeling well and suspected they had left “something” inside of her. The good Dr. in Black Rock sent her back to QEH. We all know the stigma attached to mental illness in Barbados. they did not listen to her. Allegations are they considered her mad…., what does she know…., criticizing us Drs. In short they just ignored her. A nurse found her dead on the floor. An autopsy was held, and the Dr. stated she had died from a blood clot. Long and short of it is, they left placenta inside the woman.


  21. In its release, BAMP said its members had confirmed the “shortages of basic drugs and supplies have impacted the quality of care delivered at our principal tertiary health care institution and polyclinics”. (JS/PR)

    Shouldn’t we be listening to BAMP or not? Who has any integrity left in Barbados? Does it really matter who is telling the truth anymore? What are the patients saying? Should we be hearing from them instead of some politician in survival mode?

    I disagree with both Senators. Let us hear from the customers. Where is their voice in all of this?


    • BU recalls that president of BAMP Carlos Chase admitted that the MoH and government did not consult them about the budget cuts before the announcement in the last budget. The MoH denied the accusation. What the hell is going on?


    • Sorry Enuff
      Bushie thought that Pearl was referring to the overall state of affairs.
      But even WRT the structural soundness…who do you think designed and built the structure? Politicians?
      Why would you trust Caswell’s anonymous engineering critics over the KNOWN engineers and builders who designed, built and presumably oversee the place?
      …don’t you think Caswell’s sources could be some cowards looking for a big contract …and who is aware of Caswell’s willingness to talk?
      Steupssss
      …you like you are of fairly recent vintage yuh…. 🙂


  22. WORLD’s GREATEST MEDICAL FAILURES

    The failure of the medical paradigm

    The failure of cancer treatments

    The standard treatments for cancer are surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Do any of these treatments do one single thing to address the actual causes of cancer? And the answer, of course, is no, they do not. All they do is “attempt” to remove the manifestation of the cancer that results from these causes. To believe they address the underlying causes of your cancer, you would have to believe that you got cancer in the first place because your body was suffering from a deficiency of radiation or chemotherapy. No one believes that, not even your doctor. Is it any wonder then that these treatments have had such a poor track record? And on top of everything else, we now know that radiation and chemotherapy are known carcinogens. They significantly compound the problem!

    The failure of diabetes treatments

    Standard medical treatment offers several flawed approaches:

    Drugs like metformin seek to inhibit the absorption of high glycemic carbohydrates in the intestinal tract and enhance insulin sensitivity in the body, thereby reducing the need for extra insulin.

    The major problem with metformin is its effect on the gastrointestinal system, ranging from a mild loss of appetite to nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, cramps, flatulence and diarrhea. Many patients find these symptoms impossible to cope with and discontinue the tablets within days.

    Lactic acidosis is a rare but dangerous side effect of metformin. This is a serious condition where the cells of the body do not get enough oxygen to survive. It is caused by a build up of lactic acid in the blood. Most of the cases described have been in people whose kidneys were not working well — an inevitable problem with diabetes.

    Drugs like glyburide work by stimulating the pancreas to release more insulin. Glyburide is so effective that you need to carry glucose pills with you in case you produce so much insulin that your blood sugar drops too low and you fall into a diabetic coma. Although this rarely happens, it is indicative of the larger problems with glyburide:

    It raises insulin levels so high that your body faces all of the problems of high insulin levels discussed above. It doesn’t repair beta cells; it just forces them to work harder — thus speeding up the day when they break down and become dysfunctional.

    Extra insulin in the form of pills or injections cover you when the beta cells in your pancreas have burned out and can no longer produce sufficient insulin by themselves or even when stimulated by drugs such as glyburide — until, that is, your body’s insulin resistance is so high that no amount of insulin is adequate for the task at hand. At that point, your body goes into rapid decay.

    And when all is said and done, it should be noted that a huge study published earlier this year found that aggressively using these drugs to lower blood sugar levels actually resulted in an increased risk of death. The more they were used, the greater the risk.

    The failure of heart disease treatments

    Heart disease is the number one killer in the developed world, In most cases, it begins with atherosclerosis, which is the accumulation of plaque that hardens and narrows arteries. The progression is simple. You have clogged arteries. This eventually causes your blood pressure to rise so your doctor prescribes blood pressure medication to eliminate the symptom of high blood pressure — not the problem, clogged and hardened arteries. To reduce blood pressure, doctors have essentially four classes of medication in their arsenal.

    Diuretics, which reduce pressure by making you pee out water from your body. Reduce the volume of fluid in your blood, and you reduce the pressure. Unfortunately, side effects can include dizziness, weakness, an increased risk of strokes, and impotence. (Not to worry, there are medications to alleviate the side effects.)

    Calcium channel blockers, which work to relax and widen the arteries — thus reducing blood pressure. Then again, a major side effect of channel blockers is a 60% increased risk of heart attack. (1, 2)

    Beta blockers, which work by weakening the heart so it won’t pump as strongly, thereby reducing blood pressure. One of the major problems with beta blockers, though, is the increased risk of congestive heart failure.

    And more recently, its use has been associated with an increased risk of diabetes. Now catch this. Despite the increased risk of congestive heart failure, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine August 20, 1998, recommended putting “every single” heart attack survivor on beta blockers.

    ACE inhibitors (the new drugs of choice), which like the calcium channel blockers, also work to relax and widen the arteries. Unfortunately, ACE inhibitors can produce severe allergic reactions, can be deadly to fetuses and children who are breastfeeding, and can cause severe kidney damage.

    But remember, these drugs only treat the symptom, not the cause — clogged arteries. So eventually, as your arteries continue to clog to the point where even the medication no longer helps, you start getting the inevitable chest pains and shortness of breath. At that point, your doctor is then forced to chase the next set of symptoms and perform a coronary bypass or angioplasty to relieve the symptoms.

    And like the drugs before it, surgery merely addresses the symptoms, not the problem. Think about this for a moment: If all your doctor did was bypass or clear the arteries supplying blood to your heart, doesn’t that mean that all of the other arteries in your body are still clogged — including the arteries that supply blood to your brain? The answer, of course, is yes.

    And, in fact, your odds of having a stroke after heart surgery are dramatically increased.

    Not to worry. Your doctor has another drug to deal with this problem: Coumadin® (medicinal rat poison), which inhibits clotting and thins your blood so that it flows more easily through the narrowed arteries. But Coumadin has its own set of problems, and, of course, you are still on all of the previous blood-pressure drugs and symptom relieving drugs that your doctor previously prescribed.

    The bottom line is that the average number of prescriptions per senior citizen has grown from 19.6 in 1992 to 28.5 in 2000, an increase of 45 percent. The average number of prescriptions per person 65 and older is projected to grow to 38.5 by 2010, an increase of 35 percent over 2000. From 1992 to 2010, then, the average number of prescriptions per senior citizen will grow by 96 percent. Stunningly, only the first 1 or 2 drugs actually deal with the symptoms presented by the original medical problem. The other 17-36 drugs are all required to deal with the negative side effects of the original 2, plus the interactions of all the other drugs being taken. And the really sad fact is that in over 95% of all cases, the original problem could have been resolved by merely changing diet and lifestyle — with no side effects.

    Somehow, along the way, we have created a major industry centered around disease and manipulating the symptoms of those diseases, and everyone wants a piece of the action — from insurance companies to doctors, administrators to state legislatures, lobbyists to hospitals, drug companies to researchers, medical device companies to universities, and even all the non-profits that collect millions and millions of dollars to support this massive system of dysfunction. Make no mistake, this is not a wellness industry, but as Paul Pilzer states in The Wellness Revolution, it is a “Disease Industry” — designed not to eliminate disease, but to perpetuate the management of symptoms. And the really sad fact is that in over 95% of all cases, the original problem could have been resolved naturally — with no side effects.

    Do you understand the implications of that statement?

    Disease can be averted, treated, and in many, many cases even reversed — naturally, with no side effects…and at little cost!

    © 1999-2013 The Baseline of Health Foundation


  23. THE 10 THINGS DOCTORS MUST DO TO TRULY EARN THE RESPECT THEY CRAVE!

    Look, modern medicine and the doctors who practice it have much to be proud of. As we discussed earlier (and last issue), there are many areas in which they have made great progress — and areas in genetic and stem cell therapy and prosthetics that are likely to be transforming over the next 10-20 years.

    But that said, there is much that modern medicine has to apologize for. And if doctors ever truly want to be the all around healers they claim to be, they will have to change some fundamental paradigms.

    In the last newsletter, I listed the 10 greatest advances in medical history, according to doctors surveyed in the British Medical Journal. Let me wrap up this two part series by giving you my list of the 10 things doctors must do if they truly want to earn the respect they crave. Medical doctors must:

    Start thinking of the human body as an integrated whole, not a machine with separate parts that can be treated independently.
    Start treating underlying causes, rather than merely managing symptoms.
    Actually learn the real role that diet and lifestyle play in optimizing health. A total of 6-8 hours of study in medical school does not make one an expert.

    Accept the fact that the proper use of the right supplements can improve health.
    Accept the fact that exposure to over 100,000 untested toxins released into the environment is going to have an impact on health — and that it is indeed possible to detoxify many of those toxins even after they have entered the body.

    Stop accepting perks (essentially bribes) from the pharmaceutical companies, which then influence subsequent treatment decisions.
    Stop accepting simultaneous positions with drug companies and on FDA advisory boards. Quite simply, it is unethical to pass regulatory decisions on drugs in which you have a financial interest.

    Evaluate alternative therapy treatments on a level playing field. Stop insisting that alternative health treatments must undergo rigorous peer reviewed study before they can be used, and yet allow 85% of all medical treatments to be used untested.

    Stop being so arrogant as to think that if treatments don’t come from within the medical fraternity, they have no value.

    And stop being so arrogant as to think that alternative health treatments and supplements can be evaluated without the active participation of alternative healers. Going to medical school grants no expertise in alternative health — none! (I once had a medical doctor announce to me with great pride that he had become an expert in alternative health the previous weekend under instructions from the head of his hospital. Considering that it’s taken me over 40 years to develop a passing understanding of the field, with expertise in just one or two small areas, his achieving mastery of the entire field in just two days was truly impressive.)

    When all is said and done, I have been fortunate to travel the world, to meet and spend time with dedicated men and women within the medical community whose work in the field of healing has distinguished them as miracle doctors. Not once or twice, but every day, over and over, they perform miracles.

    But when it comes to the major diseases of our time, they can do better. And when you consider the alternative, we can only hope they do.

    © 1999-2013 The Baseline of Health Foundation


  24. It all comes down to two things, money and priority. . If you don’t have any money you cant spend any, and if you do have it and spend it on things other than healthcare, then healthcare be it hospitals or services does not rank as necessary as other things money is being spent on. .

    Sell the airport and use the money for the health of the nation.


  25. @DAVID

    He’ll get over it! My views are not that radical or controversial – politicians and clinicians on 2 continents knows my position including BARBADOS.

    So hard cheese guys!

    With enough HUMAN BEINGS AWAKE – something will have to change!


    • Can we get 3 recommendations to turn the QEH around in the short term

      Can we get 3 recommendations to turn the QEH around in the medium to long term?


  26. @ ANON
    Good points, HOWEVER you have made a few small errors when you highlight the “failures” of modern medicine….

    1 – you assume that the overall intent is to improve overall health.

    2 – you cannot identify “success or failure” in the absence of agreement on the fundamental objective.

    Therefore modern medicine has been EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL -for the Drug Companies and for 90% of all doctors who play the game -all multi billionaires ( Companies) and millionaires (most doctors)

    No one EVER cared about the basic sheeple anyway, so the fact that current results are marginally better than those achieved by “bush doctors” is neither here nor there…
    If we were really serious about improving OVERALL health, then we would either actively educate the public, or ban the public sale of such poisons as SWEET DRINKS, WHEAT products, sugar, fast foods, GM products, and processed food generally….and we would ACTIVELY encourage exercise and other de-stressing activities…..

    …but then what the hell would most doctors do? Chase ambulances?


    • Bear in mind the establishment of a QEH Board was intended to resolve many of the problems which continue to today.


  27. @ David

    “”Can we get 3 recommendations to turn the QEH around in the medium to long term?”

    Medium Term: Put the doctors in charge not the politicians. Setup a real board of medical experts to oversee the entire health care system. I never could understand why politicians think they know more about health care than the people who went to school to learn about it.

    Medium Term: Setup a reoccurring independent audit system that reports back to the board to include findings at QEH and clinics along with customer feedback surveys to identify where the real issues are. Then have those in charge initiate a results oriented action plans.

    Long Term: Need a national payroll deduction entitled “QEH/Real Health” that actually goes to the healthcare system. Yes “more taxes” but designated to health care only.

    I will throw in a 4th for good old times sake: Need an immediate mandate. You can interpret that however you want.


    • First order of the day:

      Hire a qualified Hospital Administrator. Someone with a Masters or Doctorate in Hospital Administration.


  28. The DLP is doing a good job of destroying everything that we gained over the years.
    The people have been prayed for by overseas people who were brought in to pray for Barbados and the people seemed to be a in some sort of stupor just sitting back and taking crap from this Government.

    I do not see why Barbados should have to suffer at the hands of this incompetent Government. And just because people support a party , they want to justify everything that the party does. It is pure nonsense and something that I vehemently detest.

    We should look for the best people to run the Government. The DLP blames everybody else and take no responsibility for anything. They are so great that they have done no wrong. The DLP introduced a budget that raise taxes, road tax, water rates etc. They increase vat, now they sending home people , intent on cutting salaries and a whole load of nonsense.

    The DLP LIED TO THE PEOPLE, HAVE FAILED TO MANAGE THE ECONOMY AND JUST CANNOT MANAGE

    THE DLP SHOULD RESIGNED AND CALL FRESH ELECTIONS.
    LET THE PEOPLE DETERMINE WHAT PROGRAMME THEY WILL SUPPORT.

    ALL THE TALK ABOUT SENDING HOME PEOPLE AND CUTTING SALARIES SHOULD CEASE NOW. GET BACK TO THE POLLS.

    THE REAL DISCUSSION SHOULD BE ABOUT SEEKING A FRESH MANDATE.
    THERE MUST BE FRESH ELECTIONS
    THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD RESIGN

    THIS IS NOT JOKE WE JOKING
    THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS


  29. I don’t believe it’s a matter of white or black, what Dr. Fraser said made absolute sense and the doctors who should know agree with him, that is why the politicians are so defensive and spouting garbage that makes absolutely no sense.

    As Sith said….sell the damn airport (they have sold everything else, what is one more) and look after the QEH and the health care system on the island.


  30. Amazing! But the norm on BU! A set of illiterates commenting on stuff they know nothing about. A set of illiterates being unable to stick to the topic on hand, while seeking to impress by cutting and pasting from articles which include a lot of unscientific facts such as “beta blockers weaken the heart.”

    Surely the issue is can we afford a new hospital at this time? Do we need a new hospital? If so why?
    How can the role of the QEH be most effective? How?
    How can we improve primary and secondary care so as to reduce the need for tertiary care?
    Why do we give medical illiterates charge over our healthcare system?

    So far today Askquith | 26/12/2013 at 11:30 am has made the contribution which makes the most sense

    Medium Term: Put the doctors in charge not the politicians. Setup a real board of medical experts to oversee the entire health care system. I never could understand why politicians think they know more about health care than the people who went to school to learn about it.
    IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT!
    GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS
    GO ZONE BY ZONE
    ASCERTAIN THE NEEDS AND DISCERN HOW THEY CAN BE ADDRESSED IN THE MOST COST EFFECTIVE WAY.


  31. Pearl | 26/12/2013 at 9:32 am | Reply

    I believe Sir Henry Fraser. Its a no brainer.

    The DLP have been telling us everything is ok for months and years and now look! I don’t know what they can do to regain credibility.

    What happened with St. Joseph hospital? Wasn’t some American or Canadian company going to take it over and run it as a private hospital?’

    THE DLP IS MADE UP OF A BUNCH OF LIARS , WHO LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH BECAUSE FOR THEM , IT IS A GAME AND AS LONG AS THEY WIN, ITS OKAY !

    AFTER THE 1991-94 DEBACLE , I DID NOT THINK THAT THEY WOULD REGAIN THE GOVERNMENT IN UNDER 30 YEARS BASED ON THE NONSENSE THEY DID BUT STUPID UNINFORMED PEOPLE LED ASTRAY BY PEOPLE WITH AGENDAS ENSURED THAT AFTER 14 YEARS THEY WERE BACK TO OFFICE–

    —————–BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER IN THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF BARBADOS.

    THE DLP IS NOT GOING TO GET IT RIGHT ANYTIME SOON. THIS PRESENT CROWD HAS TO MOVE OUT AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO GO ANYWHERE SO WE ARE IN DEEP SHIT.

    I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE BLP TO RESCUE BARBADOS. THE ECONOMIC TWIN TOWERS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE OWEN SEYMOUR ARTHUR AND DOCTOR CLYDE MASCOLL CAN SAVE BARBADOS.

    WHY ARE WE SUFFERING UNDER THE INCOMPETENCE OF THE DLP ?

    WE HAVE CARRIED A JOKE TOO FAR !
    TOO FAR NOW
    THIS IS NONSENSE
    LETS DO SOMETHING NOW
    CALL FOR ELECTIONS AND
    DUMP THE DLP


  32. @David
    Following financial measures to stabilize the QEH:
    1.25% Health Levy on all salaries, wages and self employed incomes
    10% tax on all medical insurance premiums
    Outsourcing the District hospitals
    $5 copay on all drugs dispensed at the QEH


  33. LOL @ GP
    Whew!
    Bushie thought you were sleeping until New Years yuh…. Wake up and take yuh licks like a Doc GP…. LOL…think ANON easy…. 🙂

    Bushie DONE KNOW that you would like the idea of putting DOCTORS. In charge of health care….. LOL..that is the next worse thing to politicians.
    Would you put morticians in charge of reducing road fatalities?
    Would you put children in charge of the cookies?
    …..actually Bajans might….after all we put politicians in charge of our money …..ROTFL Ha Ha muh belly…..

    Just because YOU happen to be a conscientious doctor does NOT mean that most doctors are…. Wuh you probably does drive a Datsun…or worse a Ford LOL Ha Ha

    How many doctors you know without Mercs or Beemers?
    Put doctors in charge and in short order only private patients who can pay “Merc money” would get operations …or even attention….
    WAIT!….you never heard about Animal Farm…?

    Who should be responsible for National Health Care….?
    A national Cooperative body made up of all citizens and responsible for collecting and spending the health taxes.


  34. Who should be responsible for National Health Care….?
    A national Cooperative body made up of all citizens and responsible for collecting and spending the health taxes.

    OK PROVIDING THEY ARE SANE AND SAVY

    IDEALLY THOUGH, DOCTORS WHO CARE AND WHO THINK SHOULD RUN OUR HEALTH SYSTEM

    WE NOW HAVE NON DOCTOR WITH THESE FUNNY HEALTHCARE DEGREES RUNNING HOSPITALS TO THE GROUND

    ANON HAS BASICALLY SPEWED SOME STUFF HE FOUND ONLINE IN WHICH MUCH OF THE SCIENCE IS ACTUALLY INACCURATE.

    HE REAL EASY BT


  35. Yes Senator we have heard it all before constuctive as well as destructive crticism .now it is YOUR TIME to step up to the plate and offer meaningful as well as thought out solutions. try if u can to step far away fromthe glare of media spot light political grandstanding and publicity. we have seen all that before. THANK YOU ac.


  36. RE David | 26/12/2013 at 7:16 am | Reply
    @Caswell & GP
    Why aren’t these studies made public?

    THE KAISER REPORT WAS AVAILABLE TO ME DURING 79-85 WHEN I SENT MY PROPOSAL TO TOM ADAMS. IT WAS KNOCKING AROUND THE HEALTH CENTERS AT THE TIME.

    THE FACILITY THAT YOU PROVIDE, AND THE CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGY DID NOT ALLOW EASY DISSEMINATION TO THE PUBLIC THEN, AS IS NOW THE CASE.

  37. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2013 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad on said:

    BU upgrades are not up to par, words are very small and the vote by starts were better , UP and Down , as we see it no comment is 100% so up and down dont give a range. Agree or Not


  38. THE DLP LIED TO THE PEOPLE, HAVE FAILED TO MANAGE THE ECONOMY AND JUST CANNOT MANAGE

    THE DLP SHOULD RESIGN AND CALL FRESH ELECTIONS.
    LET THE PEOPLE DETERMINE WHAT PROGRAMME THEY WILL SUPPORT.

    ALL THE TALK ABOUT SENDING HOME PEOPLE AND CUTTING SALARIES SHOULD CEASE NOW. GET BACK TO THE POLLS.

    THE REAL DISCUSSION SHOULD BE ABOUT SEEKING A FRESH MANDATE.
    THERE MUST BE FRESH ELECTIONS
    THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD RESIGN
    THEY HAVE BETRAYED THE PEOPLE AND CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO KEEP THEIR WORD

    THEY WANT TO CUT THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND CUT SALARIES TOO
    WHO IS GUARANTEE THAT THEY KEEP THEIR WORD ON ANYTHING
    L——I——–A ———R————S
    THIS IS NOT JOKE WE JOKING
    THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS


  39. let me tell you folk some stuff. I am sure that the hospital can no longer supply free health care to all these mendicant brutes in this country. Too many of us work and pay not a single cent in tax but yet expect free services. The civil servants and other structured employed workers are the burden of beast . They pay paye and vat. Scores such as carpenters. masons, vendors, electricians, fishermen, hairdressers, and other self employed persons are common criminals who live like leeches. If each were to play their part there would be more money to provide these free services. Senator Fraser can say the truth but there is a bigger picture. Come on bajans get responsible. The hospital may be in a disgusting state but there are plenty of everyday staff making things work with small finances for a bunch of unthankful citizens who are unwilling to support their country. They prefer to guzzle rum and women. All the while they leave of trail children that the state has to care for. And the majority are our wufless men who shoot up and chop up others to put further strain on the hospital. Come on Senator Fraser put the whole picture. I nearly forgot the thiefing demons who walk about the hospital shopping for groceries, toiletries. medicines and other homes supplies from the hospital supplies without shame. “Employees”. That is why sometimes common stuff such as hand soap runs out. It has nothing to do with the government, B or D.


  40. THE PROBLEM IN THE USA IS THAT THEY EQUATE HEALTH CARE WITH HAVING HEALTH INSURANCE………..THIS IS FALSE

    THE PROBLEM IN BARBADOS IS THAT WE EQUATE HEALTH CARE WITH WHAT HAPPENS AT THE HOSPITAL

    PLEASE CAN ANYONE THINK ABOUT THIS PROPERLY?


  41. @ GP
    You may wish to dismiss ANON casually, but that blogger makes a STRONG case and also answers your question about our equating health care with the QEH.
    Health care should REALLY be about PROACTIVE measures to AVOID illness, and to promote good health and wellness.
    Unfortunately, this kind of thinking leads to stressful implications – such as eating healthful meals, avoiding easy and cheap junk, exercising and avoiding the stresses of life…. So most of us take the easy road and take Health care to mean REACTIVE actions that can be taken to keep us alive to continue our bad and lazy habits after we wreck our health through folly…..THUS THE QEH.

    …never mind the Americans, they equate every shiite to money…..or more correctly now, money that they owe the Chinese…


  42. The problem with Health in Barbados starts with over eating unbalanced meals on a regular basis.

    Macaroni and Cheese pie, fried chicken, fried “proper?”pork, etc and minimal vegetables.

    We use too much salt in cooking and too much sugar in drinks.
    Also we don’t exercise unless we are doing physical work.

    Health care policy should be framed by Medical doctors and the QEH should be run by qualified Health care administrators advised by competent
    doctors.

    I still don’t understand why little almost broke Barbados must rebuild the QEH in one shot or build a Brand new Hospital.

    How about rebuilding and refurbishing sections of the Hospital over the next 10 years?


  43. Bush Tea
    ANON IS COPYING AND PASTING INACCURATE STUFF THAT HE DOES NOT HAPPEN
    GIVE ME THE JOB AND COME WITH ME AND THE CHIEF PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE, THE MOH FOR THE RESPECTIVE ZONE, HEAD TEACHERS, POST MASTER GENERAL , PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICERS, AND LETS GO PARISH BY PARISH, AND WE WILL IN THREE MONTHS GIVE YOU A REPORT OF PRELIMINARY FINDINGS AND A PLAN OF HOW WE WILL USE EXISTING RESOURCES, AND TELL YOU WHAT WE FURTHER NEED TO PREVENT MOST OF THE POPULACE CROSSING THE QEH CORRIDORS.


    • In the real world to get things done there must be negotiating and compromising, give and take. This is where the professional steeped in idealism may hit a wall.


    • Well said David.
      ….either that or carry a very big stick…like a bushman 🙂


  44. @ GP
    You are talking about what YOU would do.
    ANON is talking about what the others ROUTINELY do. You are not the average GP.


  45. I AM TALKING ABOUT WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM IN BARBADOS FROM THE BOTTOM UP

    NO ONE ROUTINELY DOES WHAT ANON HAS CUT AND PASTED ANYWHERE ,

    ANY WAY IM GOING TO WATCH THE TEST MATCH


  46. The provision of “HEALTHCARE” is a fundamental human right and the powers that be can argue all they want – a healthy nation (i.e OKINAWA) LOMA LINDA (California) experiences greater health & longevity than all the rest of us!

    If politicians, captains of industry and their ilk can “CHOOSE” the best healthcare plans with all kinds of largesse thrown in for good measure – then what about the GUYS* who clean the streets and pick your nasty-arse garbage? What happen – are they not human as well?

    When we have no answers to people’s righteous indignation and their verbal or literary “RANTS” – we can so easily obfuscate, side-step, dodge and deny these realities by using asinine and idiotic “LABELING” such as “COPY & PASTE”, “YARD-FOWLS, and whole host of implausible denials to discredit what is clearly “TRUTH”.

    Again, I reiterate my point: “THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU DISSECT IT”.

    The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is in a SHAMBLES!

    Just like the WEST INDIES CRICKET team: “TOO MANY “chiefs” AND TOO LITTLE INDIANS!”

    Why is it so painful a process for a mother with a child with a “VP SHUNT” who have suffered since birth for the mother to get access to her child’s medical records? Why has the process been one of belligerence, callousness and excuses?

    QUESTION: Do I have the “LEGAL” right to my medical records? Also, why would a hospital deny anyone that right? Is something “DODGY” in those records that would vilify or implicate specific doctors and the hospital in NEGLIGENCE?

    @ BUSHMAN – here’ some COPY & PASTE for ya’!

    BAJANS* are like cassava sticks – some of us are so “CROOKED” that it will take a “MIRACLE” to straighten us out and to remove the notches that we seem so proud of!

    To get my people to “EDUCATE” themselves in the arena of HEALTHCARE REFORM” is like pulling wisdom teeth without Novocaine!

    The average Bajan believes that if we don’t have Macaroni Pie, Baked Chicken/Pork/Lamb Chops, “White” parboiled Rice & Peas, Creamed Potato Salad, Coleslaw and a paltry toss salad – (a complex DENATURED DIET) with a rabidly, unintelligent combination of food groups that only results in the process of ” Leukocytosis” then we are not happy. No wonder most suffer with digestive issues and end up in the hospital but their immune systems can’t fight the perpetual onslaught!

    To tell the average BAJAN that 50+% of your food should be RAW (organically produced free from fungicides, larvacides & pesticides) results in raised eyebrows for we believe that DINNER or LUNCH or even a SNACK is to go and eat the POISON that HALOUTTE has his slaves pushing at CHEFETTE!

    Having foreparents who were slaves – our psyche and way of thinking is still pretty much entrenched with this primordial idea of “ENTRAILS” (pig-guts, sheep guts, livers, gisherts , feet, chicken bottoms etc) as food and with no “TRUE EDUCATION” being taught in our churches, school or institutions of so-called enlightenment – many are left in this vortex which believes that anything that can be chewed and “TASTE” good is FOOD!

    What a terminal LIE!

    Is it any wonder QEH is flooded with AMPUTEES day after day waiting to see a doctor (who for all intents happen to be frankly “CLUELESS” as to how to really treat DISEASE in their myriad forms) while the “PATIENT” who has no p[atience] at all to do the right thing pathetically waits on his “god” (the doctor) to give him a MAGIC PILL that while sucking on it like a lollip[op] will cure him of his terminal disease! What buffoonery!

    Yet some of us want to claim that “MAN” is created in the IMAGE of GOD!

    What a colossal CROQ!

    Basic wisdom dictates that we relook at our HEALTHCARE provisions! Many things need to revamped! DOCTORS (not physicians) need to go back and relearn the fundamentals of BIOLOGY & PHYSIOLOGY with the preponderance of weight being placed on NUTRITION & DIET! Throw out the “FREAKING” medical text books and kick BIG PHARMA into shape! Only then, will modern clinical practice have the EFFICACY Hippocrates and others envisioned!

    We can argue modern equipment, modern buildings, squeaky clean corridors, quilted toilet paper to wipe our arses and all the other BS – until the “FUNDAMENTALS change – all we will have is the same ‘ole, same ‘ole and people will continue hustling to Westbury Cemetery, Christ Church Parish church and everywhere else!

    Surely, it is time for us to “WAKE UP” as a nation of so-called intelligent people!

    But then, that may just be a facade!


  47. Seriously I can not believe that we are as a country moving away from caring for each other into this SELFISH SELF-CENTERED THINKING. Health care should be provided from the general taxes we pay and we should never start going to user fees. Health Insurance in Barbados is another form of IMPORTS that we can do without.


  48. If you “FOOLS” think this is ONLY endemic within BARBADOS think again! This problem is pervasive across the board – note the reasons: POOR STAFFING & LACK OF ADEQUATE OVERSITE!

    Could this be the problem in Barbados?

    In lesser developed nations in AFRICA & Asia – how is it that the problems are completely the opposite where because due to a lack of “RESOURCES” hospitals and indigenous people suffer! Yet, doctors & staff are proficient & efficient in the delivery of life-saving treatments! And they are paid a “PITTANCE” of what our ego-maniacal riffraff poach from the system and from the poor!

    If this stuff doesn’t PISS you off – then pinch yourself hard!


  49. The average Bajan believes that if we don’t have Macaroni Pie, Baked Chicken/Pork/Lamb Chops, “White” parboiled Rice & Peas, Creamed Potato Salad, Coleslaw and a paltry toss salad – (a complex DENATURED DIET)

    And they best not be using a microwave oven to cook the Rice & Peas.

    The Dangers of Microwave Radiation Cannot be Ignored

    An experiment conducted at home for a high school science fair five years ago has verified the dangers of microwave ovens not only to humans, but even to plants and other organic matter. The experiment showed that microwaved water given to a plant causes the plant to wither and die within days; however, another identical plant given water that was boiled on a conventional stove grew normally during the same time period.

    Many studies conducted throughout the world have repeatedly highlighted the deleterious effects of microwave ovens on human health. In fact microwave ovens are so dangerous that they were banned in Russia from 1976 to 1987. Twenty years of thorough research by Russian scientists convinced them that the dangers of the devices outweighed the benefits in cooking time. This experiment further verifies their findings.

    In the home experiment, filtered water was divided into two parts. One part would be microwaved and allowed to cool before being given to the plant, while the second part would be heated on a conventional stove top and given to an identical plant. Results were observed over a nine day period. By the third day it was already clear that the plant given the microwaved water was not faring as well as its counterpart.

    By the ninth day the microwaved plant was virtually nonexistent in its pot, having literally shrunk in size to just a few inches above the soil. The second plant was growing beautifully.

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dangers-of-microwave-radiation-cannot-be-ignored/24342


    • MoH John Boyce’s response in the Nation today is true to form. He rubbishes Fraser’s claim about shortage of supplies but admits his ministry is working with suppliers to remedy the situation. In the same Ricky Jordan article BAMP paints a different picture from Boyce’s. Ring o Ring.


  50. I wonder if the QEH has been wasting money on useless vaccines
    See:

    Yet another vaccine researcher caught faking research; vaccine industry riddled with scientific fraud

    Yet another vaccine researcher has been caught faking research on a bogus AIDS vaccine, adding to the pattern of scientific fraud and criminality that characterizes the modern-day vaccine industry. Dr. Dong-Pyou Han from Iowa State University has resigned this week after admitting he spiked rabbit blood samples with healthy human blood to falsely show the presence of antibodies that would “prove” his AIDS vaccine worked.

    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) was so convinced by the fraud that they gave Han $19 million in research funding. The NIH later found the fraud after attempting to replicate Han’s work and figuring out something was terribly wrong with the research.

    snip

    Han’s $19 million vaccine research fraud eerily resembles the vaccine industry fraud exposed by former Merck virologists Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski. In a little-known False Claims Act filing, these two scientists accused Merck of spiking mumps vaccine blood tests with animal antibodies in order to make the vaccines appear to be effective.

    This fraud is what allowed Merck to falsely claim its mumps vaccine is 95% effective, say the scientist whistleblowers. In reality, the fraudulent Merck mumps vaccine actually contributed to the spread of mumps across America, they explain.


  51. Wuhloss, so if we can’t trust our medical profession now then who is there left to trust? We never could trust the politicians (lol) then it was the priests and preachers we could not trust and not it is the medical profession. Who next will be added to the list? Looka it seems that I bess’ had go and plant whatever I need to eat and leff de res’ tuh de Good Lord, hear!


    • The same article advised that the nurse association corroborates Fraser’s pronouncement yet Minister John Boyce showing agro at Boyce. Why must these guys quarrel with everybody?


  52. @David, This sans-serif font against the background theme colour you have selected is a bit hard on the eyes.


  53. david; Actually, I think the new format is a great improvement and should if possible be retained into the New year, minus the Christmas illustrations of course!

  54. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2013 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad on said:

    Dr.Fraser is a crook , liar ,and scumbag,, He need to be removed , We will keep the focus on him and them ,, March on


  55. A healthy and prosperous 2014 to each of you.

    @ David

    The grey is too dark a lighter grey would suffice. Compare the white background below ‘DO NOT BE SHY, SHARE YOUR VIEW!’ and see how dark your grey background makes even the white look a shade of grey.
    The shade grey with instruction ‘Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:’ is much softer and projects the fonts better.

    However, were there complaints about the white background or are you seeking the viewers opinions?

    With print it is not a matter of liking or disliking change – it is what is easier on the eyes.

    Kindly heed another opinion.

    God bless.


  56. In Barbados corporate and government entities – mendicant mentality is the fundamental requirement for leadership and promotion.

    Instead of promoting qualified, skilled personnel, once you cry and cry about problems or find yourself working long hours for nothing, and then inform bosses of your challenges you can get a loan or grant.

    This is one reason I say that NISE can close down. We have to stop leading our people to continually rely on Government and teach them rewards for services rendered. Teach incentive and bonus.

    We have a health care main hospital that today cannot see full modernization and regular supplies.
    Who keeps inventory? Does the underpaid overworked disgruntled worker? If there is a shortage do you really think that that type of worker can see supplies are low or missing?

    When the doctors don’t show, who are responsible for looking at patients and saying ‘the Doctor is in as yet’ is it the same employee that you want to keep stock of your supplies?

    We have to command quality service, regular attendance, punctuality not only from the resident staff but also from the Doctors. Doctors should also be courteous when they are going to be late – each time the nurses, orderlies or domestic cleaners are the ones saying ‘the Doctor ain’ come yet.’

    If you want your employees to be loyal to you then be loyal to them.


  57. NUMBER TWO

    Successive Ministers of Health ought to be held accountable with the PS and management of the QEH for the shambles that it is in now.

    Without a Commission of Inquiry an assessment should be done by the Ministry of Health into its own operation and the Opposition and Trade Union(s) should be a part of the investigation.

    Where the Minister failed to properly investigate or act timely then he should be taken before the DPP for further investigation.

    Until our Members of Parliament know that they can be prosecuted nothing will change at the QEH nor any other Ministry on this island.

    But who will put a stop to the haemorrhaging if the surgeons (financial professionals) are not notified of the case and see it in the newspapers. Mind you, the surgeons work at the same hospital, Ministry of Finance and in the PM’s office.


  58. A fellow on the block said that some of the shortages at the QEH may include toilet paper,as the Government has began to stockpile toilet paper,so that when the IMF finally steps in,the Central Bank will use that paper to print Barbados dollar bills on.


  59. From a hail of gun fire unarmed black men are now legally killed.when one check the roots and the source of this madness mainly from within the deepsouth a connection similar to those with a racist past is obvious.

The blogmaster dares you to join the discussion.