We still have a mentality of off-island care is better- Dr Sharlon Lewis
Dr Lewis was speaking on Talking Points on Monday, September 29, 2025, on ZBVI 780 AM, where she said, “In BVIHSA, they have a lot of really good doctors, and I very often I actually refer my patients to them to try and get further investigations and then management done.”
Across the world, October is being celebrated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month under the theme ‘Every Story is Unique, Every Journey Matters’.
Dr Lewis was a guest on the show, along with Ms Gloria A. Fahie, President of the BVI Cancer Society, and Ms Abigail O'Neal, aka Abby, Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Tortola.
A lot can be done right here
She added that people in the VI do not realise just how much is actually available through the National Health Insurance (NHI), “We still have this mentality that if you want the best care, you have to go off island. There is a lot that can be done right here.”
Dr Lewis said a large amount is removed from people’s salaries every month for NHI; however, they do not take advantage of the services.
“They still don’t go and get their wellness checks done, or their cancer screening done, because they still have in their mind, I think, that going to the doctor is so expensive. But I think we can attest that not going to the doctor is even more expensive, because by the time you don’t go, and something is gone on so far, that you almost miss the mark."
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28 Responses to “We still have a mentality of off-island care is better- Dr Sharlon Lewis”
"We still have a mentality of off-island care is better- Dr Sharlon Lewis.
It may not just be a mentality but a reality.
Seems NHI and VI Health Care may be falling short.
Hospital, Laundrys, schools, community centres all seems to funded by charitable Fund Me's.
Without Government Audits it is hard to say where HOA13 hae tucked away $3 Billion in the last 8 years but it is not going to the people or infrastructure of the VI.
Not a mentality.
This is VI Reality.
The money is all missing!!!!!! And so is everything else that it would have brought us.
There are times some people go to doctors overseas,those doctors will prescribe medication that BVI do not have and they can only offer alternative that will take longer time to heal, then if that is not an option for the patient they will need to fly to another country for continued doctors appointments,depending on the situation before they get to the second or last appointment the run out of money and stall on their appointments.
It should be clearly explain about some of the barriers people can face during an illness when they decided to go abroad,and use what alternative is available,if not take the next flight out.
For emergencies the doctors make the decision to immediately air lift the patient,such as gunshot,stabbing and late stages of cancer victims. But there are some people they need to stay at home and recoupe. The more people use the overseas hospitals,the more broke NHI will get. More of the workforce are retiring,more moving back to their country and much more of the young are migrating.
These are factors contributing to declines. Therefore,let us count the cost before we react.
Moreover, VI residents believing that care outside the territory is better is not a novel idea. In most locales, it is a universal belief that services in larger locales and better than in smaller locales.
Further, the population in the VI is too small to permanently sustain medical specialist/specialties on site on a full time basis. Consequently, residents may have to go outside the territory for services..
Moreover, the territory needs to launch a robust public education and outreach program on the virtue and value of preventative care, ie, cost, quality/standard of health, quality of care.
for positive outcomes. Providers, the medical community, etc, to reset the compass, create the environment for delivering quality care. A first step is stopping the leakages. Leakages are not a joke or funny, for they adversely impact care, outcomes. The P, professionalism, needs to be put back into the care bottle. It is going to require no nonsense commitment.
No sh** yall talk people confidential business
2 Y DID pat Malone fly out of her own hospital to seek Medi medical attention because she don’t trust the doctors them