More affordable pharmaceuticals

Government is willing to do all in its power to ensure that Barbadians have access to pharmaceuticals and medical services at an affordable cost to control the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases on the island.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking during Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a $12 million, 24-hour, urgent care centre at Bayview Hospital expressed the hope that a sensible solution could be reached without going the route of price controls.

She stated: “This government is prepared to take action now to protect us and our consumers in the area of medical services because we believe that it is not only the supermarket or it is not only at the gas station that we seek to control prices, but also in the delivery of services across the entire spectrum.”

“I say so, conscious that as I have met with the private sector to deal with food costs and to ask them to cap their mark-ups between 15 and 20 per cent that regrettably in the area of pharmaceuticals, we continue to face markups in this country that are prohibitive and unacceptable especially in this environment within which we are functioning.”

The Prime Minister pointed out that industry stakeholders also had a duty to ensure that they don’t price themselves “out of people’s reach especially at this particular time” noting that she hoped that the sense of volunteerism that characterised the social partnership and the “way we do things,” would also guide this process.

Mottley said that the social cost of keeping the prices as they are currently, is a situation that should not continue, given the challenges with the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases.

The Prime Minister maintained that citizens must not stay at home instead of seeking medical care on account of the high costs involved. Mottley also shared that ongoing work with the World Health Organization to map out an affordable national health insurance scheme would continue with a decision expected sometime next year.