News
‘Lord Help Us Protest’ wants better Medical Care at Home, stands to save TCI $Millions and save TCI Lives
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, August 4, 2022 – Some TCI residents say they are concerned about the medical services being offered on island and gathered in what they call a “Lord help us” protest early last week.
The group gathered at the Providenciales morgue with black signs bemoaning the lack of an ICU and other medical services in country.
Some of the signs simply read “Help” in bold red letters. One of the protestors carried a wreath while others marched with a makeshift casket. The residents say they were tired of the lack of a proper ICU and being sent overseas for care.
The lack of an on island ICU means critical patients have to be flown overseas to receive care via the Treatment Abroad Program (TAP) of the National Health Insurance Plan. This is a process that includes finding and contacting a doctor/facility overseas to treat the individual, waiting for confirmation and transferring the patient via flight or medical ambulance all of which takes valuable time.
Only patients who are unable to be treated at the local InterHealth Canada TCI Hospitals are approved for the Treatment Abroad Program. 
There have been slip-ups in the system before and the Government has created a tribunal to hear the complaints of those who believe they have not been treated properly. The National Insurance Board Appeals Tribunal became active on June 28th, 2022 and manages appeals about treatment abroad and other issues including reimbursements.
Health Minister Jamell Robinson had said once an overseas referral was confirmed by the Joint Referral Committee and a regional doctor has accepted the case the person would be free to leave to seek treatment unless they were dissatisfied. If they were, they would have 21 days to appeal. Contributors with older cases were encouraged by the Minister to file them with the NHIB so the newly set up tribunal could assess them.
“We’re giving a window for those older cases to be ‘grandfathered’ in.” Robinson had explained but everything else after that must stick to the 21-day rule.
The Turks and Caicos Hospitals also announced at the end of June that they are working towards getting an ICU on island but the process is an intricate one that cannot be rushed. A case study is in development for presentation to the TCI Govermment.
CEO of InterHealth Canada, Dr. Denise Braithwaite Tennant had explained that building a business case for an ICU is time consuming, because of the staffing complexity, functional programming, infrastructure complexity and many other areas that must be completed with care.
Despite the difficulty, TCI Hospitals said it is aggressively campaigning for the ICU and expects the government to have the completed business case by the end of 2022.
For this group of protestors, the news may be welcomed but they are letting their voices on the issue be heard. At this time, Turks and Caicos is investing tens of millions of dollars in the Treatment Abroad Program which is partly funded by contributors payments into the National Health Insurance and Government subvention of the shortfall.