Mottley: Potential not being utilised

This country has the potential to be a key educational and health hub for the Western Hemisphere.

 

That’s the view of the Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley. However, she lamented to those attending the recently held 80th University of the West Indies (UWI)/ Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) Awards Ceremony, that while education and health are among the sector which Barbados has the greatest competitiveness as measured by the Global Competitive Index, over the last five years the country has seen slippage.

 

“These are the very two we are now prepared to put on the auction block, it cannot be and it cannot work, neither socially nor economically. Rescuing and transforming this country requires that we reverse this trend and that we redouble our efforts in partnership with you in the health sector and those in the education sector in order to transform these sectors,” she said.

 

With that in mind, she said their vision for health as an economic sector rests on three platforms – opportunities for economic enfranchisement; the development of medical tourism; and the export of medical services. With respect to the former, she said that existing ancillary services within the health sector must be treated as investment opportunities and could be as simple as the provision of televisions on private wards and enhanced Internet in the hospital. Moreover, she said that the utilisation of information technology within the health sector provides significant entrepreneurial opportunities for young Barbadians. As such, she said there is a need to facilitate access to those opportunities, even if it requires partnering with larger local and international entities.

 

On the topic of medical tourism, Mottley said there is tremendous potential to develop this niche. She made the point while noting that within the last six years, an average of 1 200 CARICOM nationals have been coming here annually for treatment of some nature.

 

“I am told this is much less than what occurred in the earlier years. We need to focus on increasing these numbers again,” she said.

 

Referring to the findings of a study which was done by Invest Barbados, before the Barbados Labour Party left office in 2008, she said it showed that if investments were made in the medical tourism sector, it had the potential over five years to provide US$45 million in exports encompassing medical treatment, spas, alternative medicine, diagnostic and research services, nursing and elderly care. Regrettably, she said that study has not been utilised.

 

With that in mind, she said it is her belief that local doctors can partner with businesses within the hemisphere to offer specific medical services competitively and in that vein, she pointed to the Barbados Fertility Centre which she noted has been doing the quality work. (JRT)