Barbados?Health officials are again facing a challenge with non-nationals accessing the health care system.
Over the past three weeks individuals have been presenting themselves at the Accident & Emergency (A&E) and other departments of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) from other Caribbean islands, including the Dutch St Maarten without the prior knowledge or authorization of the hospital.
Minister of Health Donville Inniss said people were arriving at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), either by air ambulance or commercial flight, and going straight to the A&E Department to be seen – in some instances within half-hour.
Inniss revealed that some patients arrived with handwritten referral notes addressed to the QEH that were signed by a private doctor in their island, while others had referral letters to particular doctors at the QEH without their prior knowledge.
Read the fill story in today’s DAILY NATION.