By MATT MAURA

Bahamas Information Services

NASSAU – Officials at the Ministry of Health have proposed to implement a Mobile Pharmacy Service at its Primary Health Care Facilities throughout New Providence "early next year" as part of an overall strategy to reduce the "long wait" while improving access to medication at those facilities, Minister of Health Dr. Hubert A. Minnis said Tuesday.

Dr. Minnis said the implementation of the service will also allow persons requiring urgent treatment to be given "immediate STAT doses" of medication in those instances. He said they will then be able to collect the complete course of medication the following morning in time for their next dosage.

The Health Minister said the launch of the Mobile Pharmacy Services is part of the Ministry of Health's and Department of Public Health's overall strategy to improve and strengthen services provided at the Primary Health Care Centres throughout the Commonwealth of The Baha-mas.

He said it is also a part of the Government of The Bahamas' plan to ensure that persons requiring health care services continue to receive "accessible and affordable" health care services at the clinics and/or health care centres, schools and home care programs, in addition to work sites, throughout The Bahamas.

"The Primary Health Care Model continues to be one of the main, and perhaps, the most significant models for strengthening society's ability to reduce health and other social inequities," Dr. Minnis said.

"The Government of The Bahamas believes that all people should have the right to live healthy lives; that service should be of the highest quality that can be achieved; that supportive clinics and community environments allow us to maximize our potential to make healthy choices and behavioural changes, and that the health needs of individuals and the communities in which they live, are inter-dependent and therefore require the full participation of every member of that community in the delivery of health care services."

Dr. Minnis said it is against this backdrop that the Ministry of Health – through the Department of Public Health – has implemented 18 National Health Programs that are designed to ensure that standardised, quality health care services are provided for pregnant women, infants and children; for immunization of all age-groups of students and adolescents; for treatment of persons with diabetes, hypertension, asthma and dental problems, in addition to those persons "who may have been exposed to, or diagnosed with, communicable diseases throughout the Common-wealth of The Bahamas."

He said that for the past two budgetary periods, the Ministry of Health has been given increased resources to ensure that delivery of these services is sustained.

"The Health Profile of The Bahamas reveals that a significant number of persons are overweight and obese and this leads to other illnesses that are chronic and that require treatment," Dr. Minnis said.

"We have an opportunity today, through the establishment of local health committees working with our health team, to reverse the cause for visits to our health facilities, for more health and cancer screening, immunization and health education, rather than for curative care due to diabetes, hypertension, coughs and colds. We must practice prevention," Dr. Minnis ad-ded.