Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Leslie Rollock.
Dr. Brian Charles, Managing Director of Sandy Crest Medical Centre, took the opportunity to acknowledge the patients of the centre and its hardworking, dedicated staff.
The Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) was among the numerous booths at the Sandy Crest Medical Centre ‘Health Extravaganza’.
Barbadians urged to adopt healthy lifestyle habits
Sun, 08/28/2016 - 12:00am
Recent sudden deaths, mostly occurring in public places, left Barbadians unnerved and calling for investigations into the cause.
However, according to the Ministry of Health, the majority of those deaths were the result of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), which were either poorly controlled, undiagnosed or untreated.
Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Leslie Rollock, is therefore urging all Barbadians to be cognisant of this growing public health threat of chronic diseases, which must be addressed through prevention; one of the components of which is lifestyle changes.
Dr. Rollock, who was at the time addressing the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Sandy Crest Medical Centre, revealed that Barbados, along with other World Health Organisation Member States, is expected to sign off on a plan to reduce premature mortality caused by NCDs by 2025.
“This plan is achievable,” she insisted. “It is up to all of us to help achieve it. I implore everyone to do their part in adopting healthy lifestyle habits in order to live longer and healthier lives.”
The Senior Medical Officer believes that Barbados’ growing health-care needs call for public and private health-care providers to work more closely as one integrated health care system.
She said that private health-care institutions like the Sandy Crest Medical Centre are important partners, which can work alongside public health-care institutions to ensure that it remains accessible and affordable to all citizens.
“In the coming years, the health-care needs of Barbadians are expected to rise with ageing and more complex conditions. To meet this challenge, we must continuously innovate and find ways to deliver our care better, and to ensure that Barbadians continue to have access to quality health. The Sandy Crest Medical Centre has done well in this respect.”
As part of its tenth anniversary celebrations, the Sandy Crest Medical Centre donated training equipment worth over $10 000 to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and other health entities. Also yesterday, the medical centre located in Holetown, St. James hosted a “Health Extravaganza”, giving back to the community. (TL)