PDM Soft Roll Out of Campaign Mandate 

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, September 19, 2023 – Residents now have an idea of the mandate the PDM will carry for the upcoming elections, and it includes a complete revocation and reworking of The National Health Insurance Ordinance, according to Edwin Astwood, PDM Party Leader, who was speaking at a September 7, 2023 press conference.

It’s part of a slew of changes that Astwood promised would come in the very first Cabinet meeting of the PDM’s next tenure should they be elected to office.

“We are now living in a nation of decline,” Astwood said, criticizing the PNP government for its choices and laying down what the PDM would do instead.

“It is our intention to repeal and replace the National Health Insurance Ordinance and replace it with one that truly serves the health needs of our people,” he said, citing what he described as record deaths in the country from lifestyle diseases.

A new Treatment Abroad Program (TAP) policy has apparently also been in the works at the PDM camp and is waiting to be tabled. With this, Astwood is promising an increase in subsistence for TAP patients; more TAP facilities in areas like the US; and no more returning sick residents to the TCI for referrals to then fly them out for TAP.

Also to be tabled in that first Cabinet meeting alongside the decisive Health Policy is a Border Protection Policy.

The Opposition Leader maintained that the policy would be based on having ‘eyes on the water and immediate return to sender.’ Though details were kept close to breast, the PDM says it will include an offshore ‘floating’ detention centre; new drone teams; satellite imagery; additional and diverse manpower and vessels; new outposts; covert operations and more.

“We have identified all the possible sources for funding and training. We have also identified the sectors in our islands for recruiting human resources,” he promised.

More scholarships for students is also something the party is campaigning on.

“We will reallocate the millions of dollars being spent on consultancies and put that to education- so you will see after assuming office in that first budget the highest amount ever for scholarships and training.”

The press conference, which also featured Robert Been, PDM Deputy Party Leader, Alvin Garland, PDM’s Appointed Member to the House of Assembly and Ezra Taylor, PDM National Chairman was carried live from the party’s Facebook page.