Bahamas News
BAHAMAS: The healthcare system faced with aged health facilities
#Bahamas, March 13, 2018 – Nassau – Minister of Health the Hon. Dr. Duane Sands said the country’s healthcare system is faced with aged health facilities that were built in the 1980s and have experienced significant natural disasters, as many are close to the coast and vulnerable to environmental hazards.
“We must continually repair to maintain services at our facilities.” Dr. Sands said during his Contribution to the Mid-term Budget Debate in the House of Assembly, Monday, March 12, 2018.
He said the current outstanding projected infrastructure cost for improvement on community clinics approximates some $46,580,000.
“I am pleased to report that the West End Community Clinic opened late last year.”
Dr. Sands explained that this government administration came into office with the side opposite having promised the world in terms of repairs and refurbishment of the healthcare facilities throughout the archipelago.
“We are unable to fund the proposed infrastructure improvements in our clinics as there was no money. Hence, we have had to put many infrastructural projects on hold as the staff work assiduously to ensure our people are cared for in a safe environment.”
He said limited capital development work continues at healthcare institutions. By mid-April, the Corey Newbold Ward in the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) will be re-opened following a complete renovation programme to the 40-bed ward. This will reduce the protracted wait times for admissions and theatre services.
The Health Minister said that plans are also underway for the redevelopment of the East Wing block of PMH to reduce the shortages of public ward beds and renovate/upgrade relevant areas for improved access and environments of care for public patients.
Key public patient areas to be addressed are Eye Ward, Maternity Ward, Children’s Ward, and Male Surgical Wards. The consolidation, renovation and upgrade of all Private Services to one area of the hospital is also planned with a view to improving opportunities for revenue generation for the public health authority.
He said, “I am very pleased to report that my Ministry has initiated an Emergency and Urgent Care Services project.
“The overall goal of this important project is to improve my Ministry’s response to the critical needs of residents in New Providence for emergency and urgent care. This multifaceted project will, on the one end, address non-life threatening/urgent care treatment in the community clinics; and on the other end, focus on the Accident & Emergency Department to ensure true emergencies are better accommodated and managed for timely and quality care.”
The urgent care component of this project will begin at the South Beach Health Centre and the Elizabeth Estates Clinic. The project seeks to improve workflows, policies and procedures, information management, customer service, staffing, and availability of services to the population.
More specifically, the project will seek to decompress A&E Department and reduce wait times, overcrowding and upgrade the patient care environment.
Dr. Sands said the renovation and upgrading of the A&E Department at PMH is specifically targeted with emphasis on decanting planning to minimise interruptions to essential services. It is anticipated that the phased renovation will span 12-14 months once initiated.
The Health Minister said, “The Infrastructure Working Group continues to work to establish realistic timelines and budgets for each phase, inclusive of equipment and furniture needs. We are eagerly looking to fast-track the process to begin works within a three-month timeframe.”
Plans for the Rand Memorial Hospital
He noted that at the Rand Memorial Hospital, funds have been identified to execute the upgrading and expansion of much needed clinical space.
This will be achieved following the relocation of the Kitchen and Cafeteria to the property adjacent to the Rand Memorial (former Island Palm Hotel).
A connecting corridor is being constructed between the two properties that will also accommodate physician offices, on-call rooms; and relocated Security and Telephone Services. Additionally, the General Practice and CNCD Clinics are being relocated to the IAT Building (a rented facility) located opposite the Rand Hospital.
He said, “This additional clinical space affords the opportunity to extend the hours of operation for these services from 8:00 a.m. to midnight and institute a patient appointment system.
“This ultimately will improve patient access, satisfaction and reduce wait times. This move will also afford the desired result of better responding to the critical needs in the Accident & Emergency Department at this hospital.”
Plans for Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre
Dr. Sands said at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre, renovation of the now vacant Child & Adolescent Ward to establish a new Forensic Psychiatry service is expected to meet the current and immediate future needs of this high-risk patient population.
He said, “Historically, 90 per cent of forensic psychiatry patients are referred from the courts and the remaining 10 per cent are transferred from the Bahamas Correctional Services Department.
“Presently, all patients are admitted to SRC’s New Eloise Penn Ward, resulting in severe overcrowding. In the outpatient setting, community forensic services are offered at the Community Counseling & Assessment Centre (CCAC) in a rather limited capacity.”
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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