News
TCI: Opinion Piece – NHIB Spending
#TurksandCaicos, February 3, 2018 – Providenciales – Who is the Man? As a lawyer, I regularly read the Gazette when published on Fridays as it contains valuable information for my legal practice. Last week I read with great interest the changes in portfolios of Ministers specifically the Minister of Finance and Premier, and the Minister of Health, Human Services and Agriculture, which are to commence on February 1st 2018.
Reader, I urge that you walk with me as we take a trip down memory lane. Some 13 months ago, the first Female Premier and Minister of Finance was sworn in, and during her speech she said “I’m the Man for the Job”. While we chuckled at that colorful expression coming from a woman, who should be proud to be “the woman for the job”, we understood where the Minister of Finance was coming from. Now some 3 months ago, the Minister of Health, beat his chest proudly in the House of Assembly and said “He is the Man, the Man for health. No one knows more about health than me. I am the Man”. Now, with serious eye-rolling that I find happening more and more often whilst I am sitting in the Chamber due to the various colorful exchanges and expressions coming from the Government side, I was intrigued by the Minister of Health’s extensive reminder that he is the Health Man! This proclamation of his manliness was in response to his Amendment to the NHIB Ordinance which he said was the first step in fixing what some deem a real drain on tax-payers dollars. The amendment largely related to the make-up of the NHIB Board.
So, imagine my confusion last week Friday when I reviewed the Gazette and noticed that the self-proclaimed Health Man, lost the biggest expenditure in Health from his portfolio, that being responsibility for the National Health Insurance Board. For the sake of completeness, the National Health Insurance Board is the oversight body for the Treatment Aboard Program in the Ministry of Health and Human Services. Our contributions to NHIB not only provide funding for treatment overseas but also payment to TCI Hospitals on our behalf along with our US$10.00 co-pay we’d pay when we utilize services at one of their locations.
So, my questions today is WHO IS THE MAN?; and why is it that the NHIB spending is well over the projected budget amount of US$23,274,067.00. When we were in the Budget Debate last year, I specially asked the Minister of Health on three occasions was the budget of US$23,000.00 enough for the work of NHIB in covering the Treatment of Aboard Program, and ancillary costs of the NHIB. At each stage he said yes with gusto, and assured us that new structures would be in place to ensure NHIB would operate within their budget.
So, my second question is simply this, Did the Health Man fail? Is that why the Minister of Finance has come to save the day, and replace the Health Man, with the Finance Woman-Man?
What makes me ponder these questions is the response to my parliamentary question which was submitted in September (answered this week in the HOA) to the Minister of Health as to what are the costs of the Treatment Aboard Program from July 1st 2017 to October 31st 2017. How is it that in just the period of July 1st 2017 to October 31st 2017 some 4 months the NHIB has spent US$8,659.170.00, which is US$7,131,783.00 in medical costs, US$1,000,000.00 in airfare, and US$238,000.00 in subsistence. At this rate the total expenditure for the 2017/2018 Financial Year would be US$21,395,349.00 in just overseas medical costs. During this period a total of 418 referrals were processed resulting in the following big ticket medical costs of: US$3.3M for 80 patients to the Bahamas, US$2.2M for 183 patients to Jamaica, US$300k for 2 patients to Canada, US$391K for 19 patients to Cayman and US$153k for 1 patient to Colombia.
To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement of the amount that was spent in 4 months by the NHIB, but nonetheless we press on. As the Minister of Health wrapped up his answer to my question, he mumbled something about primary health care being important. So my next question is what is the plan to curb this rapid unsustainable expenditure?
To make matters even more interesting, there is a Supplementary Budget for 2017/2018 that will be debated next week, and on review of this yesterday, I note that NHIB has requested additional funds in the sum of US$12,000,000.00 increase for this financial year which ends on March 30th 2018. Um, that is just 8 weeks from now. US$12,000,000.00!!!! Taking the NHIB estimated budget for this Financial Year to the grand total of US$35,885.000.00!!!! Now, that is when I noticed my heart rate began to escalate in the HOA. Where are we going to have US$12,000,000.00 found from in the current revenue streams that we have, and further what is being cut from the Budget to make up this difference.
So in the end the forecasted outturn for this financial year 2017/2018 for NHIB expenses is US$35,885,000.00, and not US$23,000,000.00 that the Minister of Health assured the people of this Country was sufficient for their potential medical costs overseas. While, I am here, let us also remember the Budget was debated and passed in April. Further, the Minister of Health had ample time to prepare a practical budget, but further to that from April to October 2017, wasn’t the Minister of Health monitoring the rapid expenditure of the NHIB. Oh wait, will they blame the former Government for this rapid expenditure to date, or let me guess Hurricanes Irma and Maria? Remember this is the Minister of Health’s Budget, that was deemed by the Government as the People’s Budget.
My advice to the new Minister of NHIB is to be open and honest with those registered with NHIB, as this current trend is unsustainable with the 30,000 persons who are contributing to NHIB and some 39,000 users. Where is the extra money going to come from? We need to know and we need to know soon. Oh, and if you’re reading this and think I got the requested figures incorrect, it is in black and white in the documents that were laid on the table yesterday, and as a Millennial, I include the screenshot for your review.
I am deeply concerned about NHIB, as there is still no Chief Financial Officer recruited, and it is bleeding funding with what seems to be no oversight, and something drastic needs to occur to severe the infected limb (pun intended).
Release:
Hon. Akierra Mary Deanne Missick
Member for Leeward & Long Bay Hills
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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