Govt to roll out new policies for tackling cancer, heart disease, mental health

A strategic plan to tackle the nation’s lifestyle disease epidemic is to go before Parliament soon, Minister of Health and Wellness Lt Col Jeffrey Bostic said Friday, declaring noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) a major threat to healthcare despite the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plan is to include policies to deal with cancer, cardiac care and child nutrition, the minister told the House of Assembly during the 2021/2022 Estimates hearings.

Lt Col Bostic said that while COVID-19 has dominated the health care system in the last year, the impact of NCDs on the population could not be ignored.

Research has shown that people with NCDs and other underlying health conditions have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease, and are more likely to die from the viral illness.

“One of the things that COVID has clearly demonstrated to me…is that we have a big problem with NCDs in this country and it is something that we will continue to tackle,” Lt Col Bostic said.

Against that background, a new strategic plan for NCDs will be coming shortly to Parliament, he said.

“That includes some other things, like the national cancer plan which we intend to implement and the cardiac care programme which is being spearheaded by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH)…along with a draft child nutrition policy which we have been able to put together with support from PAHO and after consultations and involvement of major stakeholders locally,” the health minister said.

He stressed that his ministry would be adopting a new approach to tackling these health issues.

Lt Col Bostic said: “We are going for an integrated approach…. I’m not speaking specifically or only to the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the QEH, but we recognise that there’s a dire need for us to collaborate, in a big way, with the private health care facilities and persons.

“We saw it during COVID, and it is going to be most appropriate in terms of cardiac care and cancer plan as well as nutrition policy going forward.

“That, for us, is significant because the intent here is for us to be able to save lives and in cases where it is not a matter of saving lives, we want to be able to afford people the opportunity to live a better quality of life, even if they are inflicted with any of the NCDs.”

Responding to questions posed by Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle later in the session, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George spoke about a cancer plan which is focused on the prevention of cancers of the prostate, breast, cervix and colon cancer – key killers of Barbadians.

Dr George told Parliament: “We believe that a fundamental preventative programme is important along with good therapeutics and intervention for cancer…. The plan involves what can individuals do to protect themselves and if they have cancer to present to healthcare services early.

“The plan builds on a lot of partnership, including that with the private sector so, for example, the Barbados Cancer Society where individuals will receive cancer care.

“There are other NGOs which support our programme and these NGOs offer, at low cost, the ability of persons to have screening and early diagnostic care. So the cancer plan is built on a model of prevention.

“We firmly believe that a lot of emphasis needs to be in a primary and preventative approach.”

Dr George also said that while the incidence of cervical cancer in Barbados is falling, breast cancer rates continue to rise. But he did not provide any statistics.

Turning to the Government’s cardiac care plan, the health minister told the House that the $300,000 supplementary finance for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital that was approved during the current financial year had allowed it to make some “good progress”.

Giving more details about the child nutrition policy, he said that would inform a wider national policy to be implemented during the next financial year.

Lt Col Bostic said the Ministry of Health had met with several figures, including NGOs, academia and the Ministry of Education, to come up with draft documents that deal with the food service environment, health curriculum, health education and promotion and school health programmes.

“The next part of it, which would be the national part, would be a policy on food departments, on public nutrition and education and these will be completed in the next financial year,” he added.

The Minister of Health also said amendments to the Mental Health Act would be made in the coming year, and a National Mental Health Policy will also be articulated in due course. (DP)