NASSAU, The Bahamas — The Government is moving to protect the rights, privacy, independence, and dignity of older persons throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

The Hon. Dr. Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness tabled The Older Persons Rights, Protections, Care and Support Bill (2026), in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

“This is legislation whose time has come. It is rooted in a very simple thought that growing older must never mean becoming less valued, less visible, less protected or less entitled to dignity.

“Ageing is not somebody else’s issue. It is one of the few public policy matters that, if we are blessed with longevity, will eventually touch every one of us,” Dr. Darville said.

He noted that The Bahamas, like the world, is experiencing a clear demographic shift. According to the 2022 Census, the number of persons aged 65 years and older rose by 28.2 percent since 2010.

In The Government’s Blueprint for Progress, it made a commitment to strengthening protections for older persons. And, this Bill gives practical expression to that commitment. But there is also a wider context.

Furthermore, in 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council established an Intergovernmental Working Group charged with developing a legally binding international instrument on the human rights of older persons. Its first substantive negotiating session was held in Geneva in July of this year.
In this vein, Dr. Darville said that The Bahamas brings this Bill at an important moment.

“While the international community is negotiating what a future global legal instrument should contain, The Bahamas is moving now with legislation that goes beyond a declaration of principles,” he said.

“This Bill recognizes older persons as rights-holders. But it also recognizes that rights written on paper mean little if there is no machinery to make them real.”

Provisions under the Bill establish in law the rights of older persons, including dignity, equality, privacy, autonomy, participation, financial self-management and access to healthcare and public services.

Secondly, it confronts abuse and abandonment, physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment.

“These are expressly prohibited. For far too long older persons have been abandoned at hospitals with no recourse. This ends today,” Dr. Darville stated.

The Bill also permits anonymous reporting of suspected abuse and protects persons who make reports in good faith. Certain healthcare, social service, law enforcement and other professionals will have a statutory duty to report where
they reasonably suspect that an older person requires care and protection.

And thirdly, this Bill confronts an abuse that can sometimes remain hidden behind family relationships — financial exploitation, Dr. Darville said.

He added, “Taking an older person’s pension. Misusing their bankcard. Coercing them to transfer property. Manipulating a will. Using their National Insurance benefit for purposes other than their welfare. Preventing them from accessing their own money. These matters are specifically addressed in this legislation, with financial exploitation attracting serious penalties.”

The Bill is about support, by providing for the development of a National Older Persons Policy within 12 months, with priority given to a National Dementia Strategy.

“It promotes community nursing, home-based care and older persons’ day-care services, because where it is safe and appropriate, we should help our older persons remain independent, connected to their communities and supported in familiar surroundings,” Dr. Darville said.

The Bill further recognizes the tremendous responsibility carried by caregivers and provides for caregiver training and support, among other things. “It incorporates the needs of older persons into disaster preparedness, response, relief and recovery. And importantly, it rejects the idea that retirement means irrelevance,” Dr. Darville said.

By Lindsay Thompson
Bahamas Information Services

(BIS Photo/Ulric Woodside)

By Magnetic Media Newsroom

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — The Turks and Caicos Islands Government says the breakdown of its relationship with InterHealth Canada presents an opportunity to reshape healthcare delivery, with plans to expand local medical services, strengthen primary care and reduce dependence on overseas treatment.

During a national briefing following InterHealth Canada’s notice terminating its hospital contract, Premier Charles Washington Misick acknowledged publicly for the first time that Government and InterHealth had been negotiating an exit from the arrangement for more than a year after what he described as an “irretrievably broken down” relationship.

Despite the contractual dispute, Misick and Health Minister Kyle Knowles stressed that healthcare services will continue uninterrupted during the transition.

“Allow us to do our job,” Knowles appealed, assuring residents that Government is actively managing the transition and safeguarding patient care.

The Premier outlined what amounts to a broader healthcare transformation built around four connected levels of care: strengthened community-based primary healthcare; expanded polyclinic services; enhanced hospital-based secondary care with greater specialist capacity; and overseas tertiary treatment only for cases that cannot be managed locally.

Among the proposals are the long-discussed establishment of intensive care units, expanded use of currently unfinished hospital space, recruitment of more resident specialist physicians and stronger contract management to oversee future healthcare agreements.

Knowles said the new polyclinic model will broaden services available outside the hospitals, including dentistry, ophthalmology, laboratory services, diagnostic imaging, gynaecology and preventative screening, helping to reduce pressure on emergency departments while improving early intervention.

Misick also acknowledged that while the hospital system significantly improved healthcare access after opening in 2010, Government believes further reform is necessary to improve affordability, sustainability and the range of services available within the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The briefing marked the Government’s most comprehensive explanation to date of its plans beyond the InterHealth contract, signalling that officials now see the transition as an opportunity to redesign healthcare delivery rather than simply replace one operator with another.

By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media

The Bahamas, June 26, 2026 – Just in case you thought Sebastian Bastian, The Bahamas’ first Minister of Innovation and National Development, was about to dust off Vision 2040 and carry on where others left off… think again.

In his maiden Budget Communication on Monday, June 15, Bastian unveiled what amounts to a blueprint to rebuild how the government works.

Not with another glossy vision document.

But with an execution machine.

The clearest indication came when the Minister acknowledged that while Vision 2040 was an important national achievement, it also exposed a weakness.

“So we are changing what we are building. The National Development Plan will no longer be a document we complete and set aside. It will be a living instrument — continuously reviewed, always current, resourced by full-time professionals, and grounded in real data — that shapes how this government, and every government after it, chooses its priorities. A plan is a document. What we are building is an institution.”

It is a remarkable shift in philosophy.

Instead of governments producing national plans every decade, Bastian wants professionals monitoring implementation in real time, measuring progress and ensuring administrations stay focused on delivering what they promised.

To Bastian, national development goes far beyond the roads, airports and buildings Bahamians can see. It also means creating the invisible infrastructure of government — smarter systems, better planning, reliable data, accountability and institutions that survive changes in political administrations.

His speech repeatedly returned to one central idea: government itself has become an obstacle to opportunity.

He described a Family Island entrepreneur waiting weeks or even months for approvals because government systems do not communicate with one another. He spoke of public servants trapped by outdated manual processes instead of serving people. And he highlighted an 18-year-old entering a workforce being reshaped by artificial intelligence before graduation.

As he explained:

“…our job is a practical one: to make government work better, to make The Bahamas easier to do business in, and to make sure our country and our people are ready for what comes next.”

For ordinary Bahamians, he said the objective is simple.

“…a government that is simpler, faster, and far easier to deal with… dealing with your government will get easier, year after year, by design.”

His ministry’s four pillars are ambitious: modernizing government, preparing the nation for artificial intelligence, developing Bahamian talent and driving long-term national development.

Among the initiatives announced were a National Artificial Intelligence Authority, the country’s first AI legislation, a National Digital ID, SmartGov productivity tools for public officers, connected government systems, a National AI Literacy Initiative, an independent National Planning and Development Institute and a Delivery Division dedicated to turning plans into action.

The speech stopped short in one important area.

While Minister Bastian thoroughly explained how government intends to transform itself, he did not establish the measurable targets by which Bahamians can judge whether that transformation is succeeding.

However, he did reveal the next milestone.

Beginning in August, the National Development Plan Secretariat will begin assessing the planning capacity of every ministry and department while establishing a national tracking system before the renewed development plan moves into execution.

With 23 ministries and offices in the Davis administration, Bahamians now have a timeline.

It would not be unreasonable for the public to expect Minister Bastian to return once that assessment is complete with the findings, benchmarks and measurable goals that define success.

After all, the Minister’s own philosophy leaves little room for anything less.

“Delivery does not happen by good intentions — it happens when you build the institutions to carry it: capacity for research and policy thinking; teams dedicated to implementation; structures that demand accountability; systems that measure progress; and continuity that outlives any election cycle.”

If this speech is any indication, Minister Sebastian Bastian is not asking Bahamians to judge him by promises.He is asking to be judged by performance.