Minister Browne says QEH under pressure to deal with rise in lifestyle diseases

Treating patients with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is taking a significant toll on the resources at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

This concern was raised by Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness with Responsibility for the QEH Dr Sonia Browne in the House of Assembly on Wednesday as she applauded the Government’s decision to move the excise tax on sweetened drinks from 10 to 20 per cent.

Dr Browne said during the debate that the country must refocus its efforts from COVID to the healthcare system, where an increase in NCDs has been placing significant burden on the QEH, the lone public tertiary care institution.

She said while much effort and resources were being placed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, NCD cases had risen.

“Up to last night I had a conversation with one of the senior doctors at the hospital and they were out of beds and one of the reasons being is that they were inundated by the complications of non-communicable disease.

“They are seeing people coming in with breast cancer that because of the pandemic, some two years, are showing up two years later than they should have with end-stage disease. And these are placing a burden on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. So, when people talk about the wait at the Accident and Emergency and the wait at the outpatient clinic, it comes with a lot more to that,” she said.

The minister made it clear that even though employees at QEH are willing to play their role in ensuring that the institution operates more efficiently, they are also battling the added burden of the complications of NCDs.

In fact, Dr Browne said that while the public believes more funding needs to be pumped into the tertiary institution, she believes that money needs to be spent on polyclinics to lift some of the burden off the hospital.

She said that QEH was not designed to handle the volume of NCDs to which it sees because the situation is now out of hand.

“I have seen the Prime Minister increase the number of years you work before you are eligible for pension from thirty-three and a third to 40 years. But that means if we do not produce a healthy population, if we don’t see to it that there is a healthy population, that is null and void. You could put it to 50 years. If there is nobody around to work, it is a waste of time.

“The burden cannot lie on a small set of people who maintain the population and the workforce. NCDs impact on the workforce. If you are spending time in the hospital and the clinics, you cannot work. The man hours are lost obviously, the burden is placed on the NIS [National Insurance Scheme] and the social system. The health of our population leads to the wealth of our population,” she said.

Dr Browne is also concerned about the increasing number of Barbadians who are stressed and are at risk of developing hypertension and other illnesses.

Meanwhile, the doctor said that with the excise tax on sweetened beverages expected to be raised in 17 days, she hopes that producers of the sugary drinks are engaged in discussion, regarding incrementally reducing the amount of sugars in their products.

Dr Browne explained that 28 grams in one sweetened beverage is seven teaspoons in one bottle of drink.

“It is wonderful to talk about giving jobs to people, but if we don’t have the workforce, I don’t know how we are going to. And this sugar tax I hope will be impactful. And that will lead to things like decreases in salt from packaged labelling. We need to have that instituted.

“Yes, there will be push back, as I said in another forum, from people that benefit from this in terms of the salty chips and sugary cereals. But with that comes education of the populace from pregnancy as I said before, up to death. We need to keep the fight going,” she said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb