Xyster Edmund, Chief Health Planner, Ministry of Health.
PRESS RELEASE - The Ministry of Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations has engaged the services of two consultants from the European Union Project to research options for financing of the health care system into the future, to build a sustainable health care system for St. Lucia.
Xyster Edmund, Chief Health Planner with Ministry of Health noted that a health financing initiative has always been part of the Ministry’s Strategic Plan for Health.
She said ” Universal Health Coverage, what we refer to it as, really means the manner in which the government of St. Lucia will protect health risks for its population to a certain extent.”
The Chief Health Planner noted that more importantly Universal Health Coverage is tied to the whole issue which the Ministry believes is necessary in health care that of fairness, a coming together to provide health coverage for all as well as effective and efficient use of the investments in health.
“Universal Heath Care is and integrated approach and there are about seven components to the establishment of Universal health care…it includes the governance strategies – the actual services – the financing,- the quality management system, there will be a monitoring and evaluation framework that monitors how well are the services being provided.”
“There is a health information system that we are also rolling out that will look at how we collect the data to ensure that we understand what is happening and that we can intervene in areas that need strengthening and most importantly there is the infrastructure component because delivering care in a suitable environment is also important.” Edmunds stated.
John Armstrong, Consultant Actuarial Scientist to the Ministry of Health from European Union Project.
The consultants engaged by the Ministry of Health include an Actuarial Scientist and Health Policy Consultant for Universal Health coverage.
Edmunds stated that the Ministry of Health Has already defined the process, as well as the essential package of services in draft form including the costing of that package.
“The real work of the Actuarial Scientist is to identify the capacity of the economy to finance the initiative of Universal Health Care and to determine to the government of St. Lucia the best strategies moving forward in financing this care…Universal Health Care needs clear policy direction and appropriate legislation so the second consultant will be working with us on that second component.”
John Armstrong is the Consultant Actuarial Scientist to the Ministry of Health from European Union Project. He pointed to his experience of working with other countries in the Caribbean area to look at the actuarial analysis of health care systems and will be doing the same for St. Lucia within the next six to nine months. Armstrong explained the processes which will form part of his analysis.
“The key aspect is obviously the demographic profile of the country. What is the size of the country, what is the make up in terms of age profile, male to female split and where people live, the socio-economic wealth of the country and issues such as that…The second will be what are the expectations and the package of benefits which will be provided in the health care system and to look at the cost and provision of that package.”
The consultant noted that on completion of the consultancy he envisages that they will then be able to present a number of policy options for consideration to the Ministry of Health.
Those policy options will hopefully look into the next five to ten years in terms of the profile of the population and what the cost of provision will be within the next five to ten years.
He said “A key part is obviously to understand what are the expectations of the population in terms of health care, what are the plans of government and the plans of the ministry and to really factor them into our analysis.”
The Chief Health Planner noted that in formulating the Strategic Plan of the Health Sector meeting were held in every community and the common thread among the communities was that they really do need a safety net for health care.
“They needed to know that then their children or family members are sick that they will not be out of pocket and unable to act with respect to a health issue that they would be experiencing. She said, “The government has listen to the voice of the people and the Universal Health Coverage initiate really represents our response to what the people of St. Lucia really said they needed.”
“They never said that they didn’t what to pay… they wanted to know what they are paying for, the wanted to know the quality was improved and they wanted to ensure that when they need the care it would be available to them.”
Ms. Edmunds place on record the ministry’s appreciation to European Development (EDF) under the 10th EDF programme. She says funds have been made available for strengthening a wide range of activities in the ministry most notably primary health care and under this fund the Ministry of Health has the opportunity to finance the Universal Health Care activities which include the work of the Actuarial Scientist and the Policy Adviser.