By Emmanuel Joseph

After two years of administering the COVID-19 National Vaccination Programme, Government’s Immunisation Unit is about to cease operations and one of the coordinators has lamented that not enough was done to counter misinformation about the vaccines in the early stages.

Joint coordinators of the programme Major David Clarke and retired senior medical officer of health Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand confirmed on Monday that their tenure will end on Tuesday and the Ministry of Health and Wellness will take over administering COVID-19 vaccines and issuing certificates for overseas travel.

Dr Ferdinand said that about 59 per cent of the local population has now been fully vaccinated and though that figure was “not bad”, she is disappointed it had not reached about 70 per cent.

“When we started giving the children five to 11 [the vaccine], the number of people eligible increased. Right now, it is the whole population only minus those children under five. So you can understand that as time has gone on and we increased the number of people who are eligible… the percentage [of people vaccinated] fell because not as many younger people were having the vaccine,” she told Barbados TODAY.

Dr Ferdinand said that apart from the early unavailability of vaccines, many of the challenges experienced over the past two years related to a lack of public awareness and knowledge regarding the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

“People were bombarded with all kinds of information and not all of the information was accurate. So there was a lot of false information around, and to get over that I think we didn’t do enough. We didn’t have enough finances to do the social media blasts that would have been necessary. We did what we could on a shoestring [budget] but maybe we could have given everybody more information and counteracted the negative publicity and knowledge,” she said.

“People were undecided and wanted more information to make the decision, especially with the childhood vaccine…they were brought in during the last phase. We did a little bit, but we didn’t do enough to allay parents’ fears and encourage them to get the children vaccinated,” added the retired top public health officer.

Despite this, Dr Ferdinand reported the general success of the work of the unit which was set up in the Ministry of Health in February 2021, at the height of the pandemic, to manage the vaccination programme.

“We have done a lot better than a lot of other countries, and I would say yes, we have been successful,” she declared.

“We were able to vaccinate people to get them fully vaccinated and hopefully to prevent many of them from having cases of serious disease and death. It is not measurable. You can’t measure how many deaths you prevented, but according to facts and figures, I think we did prevent many deaths. I can’t give you a figure. Maybe if they had not been vaccinated, some of them would have died or had serious complications. So saving lives was what we set out to do, and I think we accomplished a lot of that.”

Major Clarke, who will return to the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), said the highlight of the programme was witnessing hundreds of people turning up at centres to be immunised against the virus.

“When we started out we were a little rocky but I think as time went on we got better and better at the process. And as we got better and better at the process, the experience of the clients got better and better,” he said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.

The programme will now operate like any other adult vaccination system.

Declaring that most of those who wanted to be immunised have already been taken care of, Major Clarke explained that people would now have to go to the polyclinics if they wanted to be inoculated against COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health said the COVID-19 vaccine “will be available at all polyclinics as per the weekly schedule”.

Reflecting on his work with the Immunisation Unit, Major Clarke described it as very enjoyable.

“I would say I had a very enjoyable time. It was something different to do and also I enjoyed the interaction with the staff and members of the Barbados public health system and the different volunteer groups,” the army major recalled.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

The post Key official says more could have been done to get more people the COVID-19 jab appeared first on Barbados Today.

The first meeting of the Alexandra School Alumni Association for the year will take the form of a discussion on healthy lifestyles and is open to the public.  

There will be a presenter from Dietitians of Barbados (DB), the first local professional organisation for registered dietitians and students in human nutrition and dietetics.

The discussion takes place on Saturday, January 28 at the school, Queen Street, St Peter at 4 p.m. and will touch on general health with a question-and-answer segment after the initial presentation by Meshell Carrington, vice-president of DB.  

A cookbook, Barbadian Gourmet, developed by dietitians at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with emphasis on local food, will also be on sale and there will be sampling of wine and cheese. 

The dietitian organisation was launched last July 15, and it “seeks to serve the public by acting as [a] resource of technical expertise in nutrition, through promotion of nutritious food choices and through advocacy to improve the Barbadian food environment”. 

(PR)

The post Alexandra School Alumini Association to discuss healthy lifestyles appeared first on Barbados Today.

For the first time in the history of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the top interns are all females.

On Thursday, during a ceremony in the QEH Auditorium, Dr Sabeehah Nana was named Intern of the Year 2021-2022, while her colleagues Dr Jacinth Mayers, Dr Rheanne Sandiford, Dr Kinelle Gill, and Dr Davinia Bostic were outstanding interns. 

They were chosen from the 36 interns at the hospital.

During her speech, Dr Nana described her experience as an intern as a never-ending year consisting of long days and many sleepless nights which triggered various emotions. 

However, she also stated that her experience was rewarding and caused her to appreciate the value she could give to patients. 

Dr Nana added that as she made her rounds through various departments shadowing leading consultants and their team of doctors, she gathered valuable experience.

“My advice to all upcoming doctors is to stay focused on your goals despite the many challenges you will face, as the reward will be greater than the test you will face. 

“A strong support system, teamwork, commitment and dedication are key to your success. I would like to close by first thanking the Almighty Allah for my success. On behalf of my colleagues and I, we would like to thank the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for selecting us as recipients for these awards,” the top intern said.

Internship Coordinator Dr Clyde Cave said the outstanding interns demonstrated, during the practical exercise, the characteristics of young doctors at the top of their field.

He said they had not only performed well but showed “all the potential of being outstanding doctors in our community”. 

Dr Cave stressed that merely showing up for work was not enough, and those who excelled should be recognised.

“When we had the meeting to finalise the discussion, all these young doctors brought different profiles to being successful. Most important, it was caring for their patients, it was also reliability and dependability to their team,” he said. 

“The biggest compliment you can pay to an intern is for their supervisor to say ‘when I am away, I am fully confident that our patient is in good hands’, and all outstanding interns rose to that level. 

“There were some whose personal style and caring was exemplary, there were some whose efficiency and reliability was an outstanding trait, there were some that their knowledge and desire to grow in academia was an important characteristic,” Dr Cave said, stressing that “there are many dimensions to being a successful physician”.

Executive Director of Clinical & Diagnostic Services Dr the Most Honourable Corey Forde commended the young doctors for excelling thus far in their careers.

He encouraged them to treat each patient “as though they were your family member”. 

“Take a very patient-centred approach . . . throughout your entire career, irrespective of the career of the individual, irrespective of the class of the individual, irrespective of the religion of the individual, irrespective of the sexual orientation, or irrespective of religious belief. I think this is strategically important for your entire career,” Dr Forde advised. (AH)

The post Female interns most outstanding at QEH appeared first on Barbados Today.

Only licensed doctors have the authority to prescribe medicinal cannabis in Barbados and only pharmacists are legally allowed to dispense it.

This reminder came from Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Medicinal Cannabis Licensing Authority (BMCLA) Senator Shanika Roberts-Odle at Wednesday’s National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) panel discussion themed, Cannabis: Medicinal and Recreational: What really is the Difference? 

“If you take your doctor’s prescription and go to the very helpful neighbourhood man that happens to hang on the corner, you have now entered the illegal realm. Please turn back. It has to be prescribed by a doctor and then dispensed by a pharmacist,” the BMCLA boss cautioned.

“Your doctor, if you have gone to them for a while, knows your history – knows your medical history, knows your history potentially with narcotics or any other kinds of drugs. 

“Your doctor is the best to decide if your condition is best served with medicinal cannabis,” she added.

Roberts-Odle further informed those who attended the discussion held at the National Union of Public Workers headquarters in Dalkeith Road, St Michael, that the BMCLA has been continuing conversations with tourism stakeholders to link medicinal cannabis and Barbados’ bread and butter industry.

She explained that currently, like locals, tourists must be seen by local doctors to have medicinal cannabis prescribed. 

“So we are working on how to bring about medical tourism while working with the rules that are established and to continue that. 

“And we are also doing international outreach. We will be going to several international conferences throughout the year to be able to make sure we are ahead of what’s going on internationally. We may be late to the game, but we don’t intend to be staying behind,” Roberts-Odle asserted.

Recognising that the BMCLA needs to facilitate training and certification for the industry, she said that within the next two months, it would be announcing the educational institution tasked with providing level two training in cannabis cultivation developed with the TVET Council.

“And we have developed that with international partners, regional partners and local legacy growers who understand how to grow cannabis in Barbados,” she said.

Roberts-Odle said the BMCLA currently has a memorandum of understanding with the University of the West Indies (UWI) to facilitate research and development related to the cannabis industry. (AH)

The post Reminder that medicinal cannabis legal only through doctors and pharmacists appeared first on Barbados Today.

Government has promised a set of policies to ensure the removal of trans fatty acids from food over the next two years.

Minister of Health Senator Dr The Most Honourable Jerome Walcott said this necessary Government intervention is part of the administration’s attack on incidences of non-communicable diseases.

“Barbados has identified this challenge and is looking to ensure that policies to remove industrially-produced trans fatty acids from the food system are in place by December 2024,” he told the opening day of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) high-level technical meeting on Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health, organised by the Pan American Health Organisation and the World Health Organisation. 

Walcott, the keynote speaker at the event which was held on the premises of the Hilton Barbados Resort, said it was important to adjust the local food system as NCDs and mental health challenges undermined and eroded the development gains of developing states since ill health and disease were high economic burdens.

The minister told the session that the private sector had a major role to play in incidences of NCDs in small islands such as Barbados and it is important that Governments intervened where possible.

“Commercial determinants of health and trade are also important drivers of NCDs in SIDS. Commercial determinants of health [can be] defined as the private sector activities that affect people’s health positively or negatively,” Walcott said.

“Commercial determinants of health . . . can exercise broad influence on the economic, physical, social and cultural environments in which people live. In fact, through their influence on food prices, availability and advertising, trade agreements and policies, they have accelerated the nutritional shift away from traditional diets resulting in increased levels of obesity, food insecurity and NCDs,” Walcott said.

“Sometimes, due to the size and nature of the commercial actors involved, governments in SIDS face impossible odds in securing regulatory protection to improve health. This is particularly true where government resources and budgets may be dwarfed by the size and scale of multinational companies, state-owned enterprises and foreign commercial actors . . . With health, it is imperative to examine the role of commercial actors.

“Understanding these commercial determinants of health, the power balances inherent within them, and the critical role of global governance is an important step in supporting SIDS to improve health outcomes. Food labelling, taxes on unhealthy foods, campaigns to limit the amount of sugar in drinks, and food chain incentives are just some of the regional initiatives that Caribbean SIDS have launched to combat NCDs.”

The health minister said the disruptions in the health system during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the impact of these issues and underscored the importance of having multisectoral approaches to address such matters.

During the event, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness with Responsibility for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Dr Sonia Browne said NCDs had a significant impact on the mortality rate of small states such as Barbados. She suggested that the conference would help build political momentum and influence domestic action on NCDs and mental health among SIDs.

She explained that the robust discussions and ideas during the event will help to create a document of key recommendations which would be used during a SIDS ministerial conference on the prevention and control of NCDs and mental health in June. (SZB)

The post Two-year target set for removal of trans fatty acids appeared first on Barbados Today.

Wait times at the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) are still too long, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has complained.

The party’s spokesperson on health Paul Gibson lamented that people were waiting in excess of two days to be seen by a doctor, even though millions of dollars had been spent on refurbishing the A&E Department.

“We have a situation in Barbados where it is now taking between 48 and 49 hours in our A&E to be seen. Now, there is something called an accident and there is something called an emergency and it is no longer an accident or an emergency when 24 hours have passed, and this is something that we have to be very mindful of,” he said during a press conference at the DLP George Street headquarters on Friday.

“You have a lot of 85-year-olds and 75-year-olds sitting in a waiting room, sometimes falling and collapsing on the ground in the A&E Department waiting to be seen by a doctor, and there is a reason why it is happening.”

Gibson said the Government had not delivered on its promise to fully renovate the department, as the old A&E section remained incomplete.

He said the Government needed to prioritise finishing the project.

“The Government is finding money to build a Golden Square, they are finding money to build a Heroes’ Park, but you mean they can’t find money to build or repair the second part of the A&E Department? It is heartbreaking that Government can find money to fly and stay in luxurious hotels in Egypt, in South Africa and carry a large 24-person contingent to these functions and spend large sums of money and can’t find enough money to fix something as fundamental as a hospital,” Gibson contended.

Also speaking at the press conference was the DLP’s spokesperson on education, Melissa Savoury who described the performance of Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Kay McConney as lacklustre.

She questioned why the 2023 National Grooming Policy was released the day before the start of the new school term, and without alerting teachers.

“Why did we wait until the night before school starts to send off something like that when parents would have already prepped their children, parents would have already taken their sons to the barber to get their hair cut?

“I agree that a new policy is needed and necessary given the diversity of our society … but it is understood that, as usual, our teachers were left in the dark to only find out like everybody else about these new grooming policies. Once again, the ministry continues to show a lack of respect to our teachers, a lack of respect to our parents and a lack of respect in general,” Savoury said.

She said another area of concern is teachers and principals acting in posts, noting that 10 principals and 18 acting deputy principals are currently acting in their positions. (RB)

The post DLP complains about wait times, incomplete renovations in QEH A&E appeared first on Barbados Today.

Thousands of Barbadian men as young as 40 have a specific DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule gene that predisposes them to the development of prostate cancer.

This major discovery came out of a recent trial undertaken by the Barbados Cancer Society in conjunction with top researchers from the United States.

The presence of the molecule is most common in families and is considered a genetic disease, the study determined.

Some 565 over-40 men consented to the trial which started in April 2020 and ended in April 2022. From that testing, it was determined that 76 of the participants would develop prostate cancer in the future.

This was disclosed by the society’s president Professor R. David Rosin during a press conference held on Tuesday at the headquarters on Lower Collymore Rock, St Michael.

He said the trial was conducted with the support of Emeritus Professor of Surgery at Yale University Irvin Modlin and Laboratory and Scientific Director at Wren Laboratories Mark Kidd. It was the largest trial in the world for screening prostate cancer in men of African descent using genomics.

Rosin explained that genomics is a relatively new approach to discovering diseases using specific findings in the blood and saliva.

“Prostatic cancer has the highest cancer numbers in Barbados. It’s number one. One hundred and fifteen men a year die from the disease and 320 men, in the last statistics in 2018, actually get the disease,” he said. “Prostate cancer is usually a slow growing cancer in men over the age of 65 with a low death rate compared to most other cancers, however, in men of African descent it occurs in younger men and tends to be more aggressive.”

Rosin said that by using genomics, men could now learn if they are predisposed to prostate cancer even before the cancer presents itself in the body.

“The trial has shown that men as young as 40 can be carrying this molecule signature, almost always because their father or their grandfather, close relatives, have suffered from the disease . . . It is most common in families and is a genetic disease. We have shown that men who have a positive PROSTest, the molecule signature, have a normal PSA (prostate-specific antigen), no symptoms, no signs and [no] readings on the screens.

“So we are finding people who are carrying this gene and who we know will ultimately develop prostate cancer.”

The cancer society head noted that generally, men 60 and over are usually screened for prostate cancer and the society accepts men 50 and over.

However, he said that based on the findings of the research, men as young as 40 should get screened.

“I think this trial has proved that we are going to have to lower the bar and start screening people from the age of 40.”

Given that the number of men with prostate cancer is increasing every ten years, Rosin called on males to get tested.

“We should be alarmed that it is too strong and I think we should be vigilant as to how we are going to investigate and treat these men. Screening of all cancers is the way forward…

“We should be screening people to ensure that we find the disease as early as possible. That is going to decrease the mortality and morbidity because of less aggressive treatment.”

While those in the trial were tested free of cost, the price tag on the DNA molecule test is US$500.

Rosin said any males wanting to get the test done could visit the society, pay the required sum and the organisation would facilitate it. The tests are only conducted at Wren Laboratories.

Rosin told the press conference, the society would soon be carrying out another trial for colon cancer, which will test 600 volunteers.

Colon cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in Barbados and it affects both men and women.

The third most prevalent cancer is breast cancer.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb

The post Men as young as 40 prompted to test for prostate disease appeared first on Barbados Today.

By Anesta Henry

Executive Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Dr Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland has given the assurance that even though a cyber security incident affected a number of the hospital’s services on Tuesday, swift measures were implemented to protect patient privacy.

Bynoe-Sutherland said the disruption caused the suspension of all internet-dependent services which she described as extensive.

“The IT [Information Technology] experts have taken all precautions to protect the integrity of our system and the privacy of all of our patients. We do apologise for the inconvenience that may be experienced by all of our users, but rest assured we will continue to keep the public informed as we seek to restore services here at the hospital,” Bynoe-Sutherland said.

MIST (Ministry of Industry, Innovation Science and Technology) and cyber security specialists have been working with the QEH’s IT department to rectify the issue. 

In addition to the temporary precautions being taken to protect the integrity of systems and patient privacy, the hospital chief indicated that the Ambulance Service continues to function as normal, the Blood Collecting Centre continues to welcome blood donations. Members seeking further information have been encouraged to contact the Patient Liason Service (Help Desk), at 536-4800.

The Executive Chairman told Barbados TODAY she could not say exactly when the matter will be resolved. 

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb

The post Breach disrupts services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital appeared first on Barbados Today.

Health authorities are warning Barbadians to be extra cautious during the busy Christmas season amid a double whammy of a lingering COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in another death in recent days, and a highly infectious flu virus.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Kenneth George said in a recorded statement on Monday that both viruses were presenting some challenges, as he noted that the true extent of COVID-19 cases may not be known since testing has declined.

He disclosed that just below 20 per cent of COVID-19 tests performed were positive while the RE – the number of people in a population who can be infected by a COVID-19-positive individual at any specific time – was above one.

“And those two metrics together indicate that we are still having COVID spread in our communities. In addition, what we also note is that the number of persons coming to be tested has fallen off and, therefore, the number of persons having COVID in our communities may not be a true reflection of what it really is,” Dr George cautioned, as he urged the most vulnerable groups to “go the extra mile” to protect their health.

“And, therefore, I ask that you be cautious around the Christmas period.”

The CMO noted that while the hospitalisation rate has remained low, and those who were hospitalised were having milder forms of illness, “we, unfortunately, within the last seven days have had a single death”.

“We continue to monitor hospitalisation and deaths as a metric to determine how severe the infections are,” the Government’s chief medical advisor said.

“We are indeed facing a double whammy because we have COVID circulating and we also have flu circulating. The flu virus has been typed – it is H3N2 that has been circulating and that has also increased steeply within the last two months. We continue to monitor both for flu and for COVID…. Fortunately…we have not had any hospitalisation or deaths associated with the flu virus,” Dr George added.

He said the Health Ministry would continue to examine the information and report to the public any changes in that trajectory.

“But it is important to note that the flu in some countries does cause significant sickness and even death. The good thing is that there are similar ways to prevent COVID as you can prevent flu,” Dr George pointed out.

“The viruses circulating are certainly not as deadly or causing severe illness as when we were in the throes of Delta. The virus circulating is very infectious, so the likelihood of transmission is high but the outcomes appear to be a bit better.”

The CMO assured the public that the Ministry had not taken its eye off COVID-19.

“We don’t come to the public as often as before, but we continue to run the EOC [Emergency Operations Centre], [and] have several systems in place in the background to make sure that the national response continues,” he assured.

However, Deputy Chief Environmental Health Officer and former head of the now defunct COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman promised Barbadians that the Government would not go back to the tight restrictions that were imposed at the height of the pandemic.

“The Ministry of Health has no intention at this present time to return to the heavy-handed approach that we had during COVID. You can see that with the relaxation of the protocols and also with the dissolution of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit. So, we are at a place where we believe that persons can act responsibly, that persons can take stock of their own risks, they can look and see how they can protect themselves as opposed to having persons police every movement that they make,” he said.

“That was important during the period of time because we knew very little about the disease and we had a lot of hospitalisations and we were dealing with highly infectious strains at that point in time. Now we have a better handle on it and it is time that we get a return to some sense of normalcy.”

He encouraged Barbadians to protect themselves from both COVID-19 and the flu.

“As international travel ramps around this time of the year, it is extremely important that we pay attention to our preventive measures which are mask-wearing, which is still probably the best if not the best method of preventing the spread of respiratory illness; continue to ensure your hand hygiene is up to scratch, and if you are not able to wash your hands still use your hand sanitisers,” Chapman stressed.

“The whole idea of physical distancing, those things are still important. However, we recognise that there has been a relaxation in the directives, and because of that relaxation, we expect persons to take responsibility for themselves…. If you are not feeling well, it is wise to put on a mask. You may not have COVID, you may be suffering from the flu, or maybe just a common cold, but all respiratory diseases can be fought by the use of masks,” he suggested.

Data released by the Ministry of Health on Monday showed that the country recorded 528 new COVID-19 cases between November 26 and December 9, this year.

Altogether, 104 944 people contracted the disease since it was discovered here on March 17, 2020, and 568 of those died.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

The post Health authorities urge residents to protect against COVID-19 and flu as cases rise appeared first on Barbados Today.

Bajan men continue to be disproportionately represented in HIV and AIDS statistics. So much so, that Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey is expressing the hope that these, in addition to the overall numbers for testing, will increase over the next few years.

According to Humphrey, this is going to be essential as the country continues its fight to eradicate the virus.

The minister’s comments were made during an HIV/AIDS service at the Church of the Nazarene in Bank Hall, St Michael, this morning. Speaking to the congregation made up of members from the National HIV/AIDS Commission, he noted that beyond prayer there has to be a conversation around prevention and it must be age and culturally appropriate if it is going to make sense and reach the ears of the targeted.

“… A way that does not turn off people because then it becomes about ourselves. We said what we said and we don’t care what you think — no. If it is about the people we are serving it has to be in a way that they can receive it,” he added.

According to statistics, the number of known HIV/AIDS cases stood at 2 493 in 2020. Acknowledging that during the COVID-19 pandemic figures for other scourges such as child abuse and intimate partner violence increased, the minister concluded that people living with HIV/AIDS may have also increased given the realities of society. This is why Humphrey also contended that part of the conversation has to be about early detection and prolonging life, which has been aided by the use of antiretroviral therapy.

“He added: “The doctors would tell you that we haven’t found a way to stop HIV from becoming AIDS but we’ve found a way to reduce the possibility of it happening if you take the medication. The virus, if left untreated, would probably lead to AIDS. That is why we have to make sure that medication is available to all and the theme Putting Ourselves to the Test: Achieving Equity to End HIV symbolizes the idea that all must be able to have access in this country. It means persons with disability, the older population, those who are poor, any particular group … We have to make sure to find a way where all persons have access and people are treated in a way that they could be respected at the end of the day.”

Additionally, Humphrey implored the church’s partnership in the fight. He stated that the Government cannot do it alone.

“It is not over yet. Not talking about it does not mean it is over and I commend all who have been doing this work for so long and I trust that together we can continue to serve those who need our help,” Humphrey stressed. (KC)

The post Fight against HIV/AIDS isn’t over, Humphrey says appeared first on Barbados Today.