Host of the Speak Out BVI Show, Doug Wheatley (left) felt that we had dropped the ball on healthcare in the Virgin Islands while guest co-host, Natalio Wheatley felt it was embarrassing to have such a large hospital in such a small Territory. Photo:VINO/File

During the programme aired last evening, February 19, 2013 on a local radio station, Wheatley stated, “We were used to eating in a particular way, we were used to exercising… and then we dropped that way of life that we had and we adopted a new way of life.”

The statement comes amidst the backdrop of government’s pending implementation of a mandatory health insurance programme in the Territory which is scheduled to come on stream sometime in August 2013.

He felt that this left us with a lot of problems health wise. “Somewhere along the line I think we were going on the right path and then we were influenced by television and the cinema and by travelling to North America… and so we adopted a different lifestyle,” he added.

The host noted that persons in the Territory previously lived a healthy lifestyle and that was the tradition until “we deviated and moved away from that… it was the French fries and the hamburgers… and of course we are paying for that now with obesity and things like that.”

Guest host for the evening, Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru, felt that it was important to have regular check-ups at various stages of one’s life and suggested this should be mandatory.

Regarding the Health Authority’s planned measures to expand clinics within the Virgin Islands, Sowande said he hoped that there was also a robust programme in the communities to strengthen primary and preventative healthcare as well. “We have a lot of people who are going out, they’re exercising, they’re walking on the road… we need to support those people by providing the right facilities…”

“In fact we might have found,” Sowande added, “if we have had more of a focus on this type of approach to health care, we may not have needed that big ‘World Trade Centre looking’ like hospital that we have there that’s bankrupting the country according to some politicians.”

He felt it was embarrassing to have a structure that large in such a small Territory as this, “We’re talking about $100M and going… really that $100M should have done much more than that…”

Sowande also felt the issue of quality of care in the Territory was the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’. “There are some people who are on private insurance right now and they’re quite satisfied with it,” he added while suggesting that the impetus behind implementing mandatory National Health Insurance in the Territory was more about people who didn’t have access to insurance or couldn’t afford it.

He felt that the quality of care in the Territory could be helped or improved through the accreditation of the Peebles Hospital and around the Virgin Islands. “We really need to address it,” Sowande said, “because people have been mis-diagnosis… they’ve gotten care that they’re not satisfied with [and] they’ve been prescribed with the wrong things…”

He also suggested that there was a cultural assault in the Territory and felt that the government should focus more in this area to assist persons in this regard. “I think we could do some things to ensure that we have a culture that we control, whether it’s some television programmes, plays in the theatre, encouraging young people to do positive music… to be able to balance some of the negative messages that we’re having in there…”

He added, “the values are being shaved by forces outside our traditional values and it’s impacting you in the workplace… in your homes… on the streets… it might be having the most significant impact in the BVI right now, that cultural assault.”