Submitted by Anthony Davis
“With the financial viability of the health care system under threat, the head of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) HAS OFFERED Government a rescue plan. President Dr. Carlos Chase today proposed the establishment of a Health and Education Security (HES) Fund that he said could put an estimated $120 million into Government’s coffers annually. Under that plan, $100 would come from the approximate 100,000 workers in Barbados and paid into the HES Fund which he said be managed by the National Insurance Scheme” – Barbados Today
Pray tell me, Dr. Chase, how many more taxes should be put on the backs of the people of this country? $100 annually may not be nothing but a drop in the ocean for you and some others in our society, but we still have people in our country who are being paid $5/hour – with a loaf of bread costing $5.00. How are such people to pay an additional tax no matter how small?
Paying the money into the NIS would be like putting a child in a candy store and telling him/her to take what he/she wants for the Minister of Finance as he would have more money which he could dispose of as he pleases – especially to pour into the bottomless pit called “Four Seasons” which is always about to start, and has not been resurrected up to now. Putting it into the NIS Fund would be the worst move. It should not be placed anywhere where Government can get its hands on it.
In the editorial of the same issue on page 2, the writer states: “Maybe the greatest contribution all of us could make is leading and living a more healthy lifestyle ourselves. It is no secret that much of our health care dollars is spent on patients with chronic conditions, which might have been prevented – these ailments that need not have sprouted into crises and unnecessary costs to the hospital itself. It certainly is neither rational nor considerate to eat and drink whatsoever, without thought of benefit or not to body, but with the satisfaction the QEH is there to put whatever is wrong right – free of cost.“
“Leading and living a more healthy lifestyle” is all well and good, but what about the environmental pollution – especially air and noise?
Do we want to walk around wearing masks like people in some cities already do, or should we all stop breathing?
Do we want to scare away those tourists who leave their polluted cities and come here for a bit of peace and quiet by allowing people to drive/ride around with vehicles from which too many decibels emanate?
What’s the use of using millions of tax payers’ dollars in jetting around the globe and expounding lofty theories if you do not put what you said into practice by putting the relevant laws on the Constitution of this country?
These laws must have teeth and everyone must adhere to them!
Carl Moore has been crying out for anti-noise pollution laws for eons, and up to now – as with the anti-air pollution ones – we have only been fobbed off with promise after promise. Where are the anti-air pollution laws which are supposed to deal with the indiscriminate burning of stuff? The promise of such a law has remained nothing more than a promise!
The problem with burning stuff is that it does not only affect the immediate neighbours, but people who may be driving/riding/walking through the area at the time, and as we know, there are many people who already have problems with their airways, and suffer from asthma. It is callous for people to burn stuff because they do not know whom it will affect!
I can eat as much health food as I like – if I can afford it, as the price of health food is bordering on that of gold and silver – but if I do not have clean air and noise at the lowest level possible, I am still up the creek without a paddle!
In Wikipedia under the topic air pollution it states: “Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the world’s worst toxic pollution problems in the 2008 ‘Blacksmith Institute’ World’s Worst Polluted Places report. According to the 2014 WHO report, air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide.“
Diesel exhaust is listed as a possible carcinogen for humans as stated under “diesel exhaust” in Wikipedia also.
The particulates which the exhaust contains can be compared with coal dust which coal miners inhale, and give them problems with their airways, so we need to clean up the exhaust of such vehicles instead of allowing them to spew thick, black clouds wherever they go, and thereby increase the number of people who would suffer from CNDs. A healthy lifestyle and healthy living are not the panaceas for getting rid of CNDs. If you do not clean up the environment you will continue to have the same problem.
It is time to stop talking the talk, and start walking the walk on environmental issues – especially air pollution as nobody can survive without breathing, and if the air is not clean it would lead to complications!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.