Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

Dr. Basil Springer

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” – 3 John 2

When one conjures up a visit to Barbados, thoughts of an idyllic paradise spring to mind. Barbados, at Christmas or other times of the year, certainly delivers on that promise time and time again, visit after visit.

During my current visit “back home”, it hasn’t been all relaxation, since a visit from Trinidad to Barbados for me means lots of business activities, errands as well as doctors’ appointments, along with family and friends’ get-togethers and the various parties and social activities associated with the yuletide season.

As I prepare for my return to Trinidad and Tobago to settle into my weekly activities, which include Rotary service activities, shepherding businesses as well as continuing work on writing projects, I reflect on the rich experience of my visit to Bim.

The highlight for me was, of course, Judy’s Christmas/birthday celebrations, reconnecting with my children, grandchildren, and extended members of the Springer, Cozier and Barrow clans. However, an extra delight was spending time with three generations of long-time friends from Canada, with whom I was blessed to work during my consulting days as the founder and managing director of System Caribbean Limited.

From childhood, I have spent much time walking on the beaches of Barbados, and it was marvellous to continue the tradition, this time while communing with nature as well as with friends strolling through the Rockley golf course community.

As I have written in the past, the benefits of walking have been abundant in boosting my holistic health. There is much to gain business-wise, mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually while engaging in this activity, whether solo or with company.

Whatever the setting — along the beach, across the golf course, within botanical gardens, around a park, through the neighbourhood, in hilly terrain — it is often on these journeys that ideas are fertilised and solutions materialise for challenges and opportunities alike.

As we welcome a new year, let’s not only cherish the memories of time spent with family and friends over the holiday season, but let’s also commit to embarking on, and sustaining, a healthy lifestyle.

A good start for 2023 would be to embrace good nutrition, sleep, hugs, prayer and meditation, and exercise (including walking), as we continue to serve our Creator and fellow human beings on this wonderful journey called life.

Now let’s embrace the blessing of a new year in a sound mind and healthy bodies! 

Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a Change-Engine Consultant. His email address is basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com. His columns may be found at www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.

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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)

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The Barbados Medicinal Cannabis Licensing Authority (BMCLA) will be celebrating its second anniversary on January 18, 2023, with activities that include education and engagement with the public, the health sector and investors. 

The week of events are:

Jan 16, 2023: Launch of BMCLA Cannabis Crash Course Term 2  – partnered with the University of the West Indies (UWI) – Future Learn Courses – Open to the public via registration on https://www.bmcla.bb/blog.

Jan 17, 2023: BMCLA Health Forum, Island Inn, Aquatic Gap, Bay Street, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. For the health sector only via registration.

Jan 18, 2023: BMCLA Open House, Hero’s Square, Bridgetown, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Open to the public – walk-in or appointment via https://www.bmcla.bb/blog. 

Jan 19, 2023: BMCLA Mix & Mingle, Island Inn, Aquatic Gap, Bay Street, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Invitation only via registration.

Communications and Public Education Specialist with the BMCLA, Tracy Moore, said, “These forums are the BMCLA’s continued initiatives to educate and engage stakeholders while ensuring transparency and equity within this developing local industry. We hope that persons come out and be informed and involved in the medicinal cannabis industry.” 

“The BMCLA Health Forum on Jan 17, 2023 will engage the health sector to provide real scope about the medicinal cannabis industry while looking at the important role the sector plays in the industry. It will also be an opportunity to hear feedback and address any lingering concerns. The BMCLA Mix and Mingle on January 19, 2023 will allow for licensees and potential licensees (applicants in the last steps of the application process) to be in a room with potential investors, industry partners and select members of the industry support sector to meet and discuss industry opportunities,” she explained.

Moore noted that two of the four events are for specific audiences. The Health Forum is specifically for doctors, nurses, and pharmacists and the Mix & Mingle is specifically for industry participants. The educational campaign and the Open House are open to the public. 

The BMCLA Cannabis Crash Course Term 2 will have online classes available free to all, while the BMCLA Open House on January 18, 2023 will see the officers of the BMCLA go into the public space to provide important industry information.

“We did the Open House last year, and we had an overwhelming response, so we decided to make it bigger this year by engaging the public in Bridgetown. We can assist anyone who wants to know more about the medicinal cannabis industry or needs help to get into the industry, on a one-on-one basis,” she said.

Moore explained that these forums were very important because the industry grew steadily from last year to this year.

“Last year, we announced that two licensees with a combined nine licences had been approved. This year, we have an additional three licensees with a combined six licences approved by the Board. We also have two applicants at the pre-approval stage with one licence each, and there are currently a few more before the Board for review. So, as the industry grows we need to ensure that the persons who are applying and receiving their licences, those who are our valued partners and stakeholders as well as industry investors, are all growing together under the regulatory framework,” she added.

Moore urged all service providers to get in touch with the BMCLA during this week of activities via socialmedia@bmcla.bb so that they can grow within the medicinal cannabis industry through the BMCLA Classifieds. 

The BMCLA Classifieds allow applicants and licensees to contact service providers like security firms, fencing and lighting companies, accountants, lawyers, administrative workers, real estate agents and anyone else who can benefit from the industry with their products and services via all BMCLA public platforms. (PR)

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Public Health teams are still in the neighborhoods in action to prevent the spread of cholera.
However, the Ministry of Health is still awaiting the results of three tests on an equal number of patients with suspected signs of the disease. Teams of health workers and epidemiologists are in the affected areas, carrying educational messages about the need for the population to educate themselves and have access to safe drinking water.

“There are no new details of the situation, but all our teams are in the neighborhoods where cases have been reported,” Carlos Suero, Director of Communications of the Ministry of Health, told Hoy.

The situation

Dr. Gina Estrella, director of Risk Management and Disaster Attention of the Ministry of Health, emphasized that tests from the Doctor Defilló Laboratory have registered only 17 proven cases. Therefore, three more trials are expected.

The specialists

Both the Dominican Society of Infectious Diseases and the Society of Gastroenterology have insisted on the need for the authorities to make more comprehensive interventions in the affected areas. Dr. Clevy Perez has been adamant that Public Health should convince the Government of the need to supply water permanently to the inhabitants of the neighborhoods. The Society of Gastroenterology has said the same. Furthermore, they believe education and hygienic measures should be taken to the utmost.

Doctors

In another order, but in the same field of Health, the doctors met with the National Council of Social Security after the union, which groups the professionals continued with the strikes and disaffiliation to the ARS.

This time the strike and disaffiliation affected the affiliates of the Administradora de Riesgos de Salud Humano. Unfortunately, no agreements were reached at yesterday’s meeting, but the parties were summoned for next week.

Neither the Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Rivera, nor the National Social Security Council president, Luis Miguel De Camps, participated in the last meeting. This time there has been one of the system’s most complex and extended crises. Doctors are demanding their demands and want changes.

Santo Domingo, DR
A low incidence of viruses that weeks ago created pressures on the health system, among them influenza, Covid-19, and dengue, while the authorities put more emphasis on the control of cholera, produced by bacteria, to prevent its further spread.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Public Health kept under surveillance two hospitalized patients suspected of cholera, but with stable evolution, and assured that the case of a patient coming from Boca Chica with a diarrhea condition is not cholera, but that in any case, for preventive purposes, they proceeded to intervene in the community where he resides.

The details were given to Listín Diario by Dr. Gina Estrella, in charge of Emergencies and Disasters of the Ministry of Public Health, who assured that the country maintains up to now the figure of 17 confirmed cases of cholera and that in Zurza, where an outbreak was registered, control of the cases was achieved and that the dredging of the Isabela river was started to guarantee its fluidity.

He recalled that in addition to Zurza, cases were initially detected in Capotillo and two imported cases in San Carlos. However, prevention interventions are extended to all health areas of Greater Santo Domingo, as well as active surveillance at the national level. He said that out of 90 random cholera tests taken over the weekend in La Zurza and Capotillo, only four were positive, of which two were asymptomatic persons.

Regarding the cases of the influenza virus, Covid-19, and dengue, which maintained high levels of circulation during the last months of last year, the director of Emergencies and Disasters pointed out that they currently maintain a low incidence at the national level.

Since the presence of the Vibrio cholera bacterium was discovered in the country again, the neighborhood above has led to several infections of the condition. It has caused the appearance of others in neighboring sectors such as Villa Agricolas, for which the ministries of Health Public, Public Works, Environment, and the National District Mayor’s Office are stepping up sanitation efforts.

In addition to cleaning the wells, the community is constructing four containers to collect garbage that falls from the houses in the upper part of the community so that it does not contaminate the waters. When speaking with this outlet, Juan Luis Vásquez, a member of the team doing the work, stated that they are also encouraging people not to throw their waste in the area to avoid disease outbreaks. “We’re trying to make them aware because we’re doing this for their benefit,” he explained.

Another government measure to halt the spread of the disease is the dredging of a large portion of the Isabela River, which borders La Zurza and, according to authorities, contains the bacteria that transmits cholera. According to official information, a dividing mesh will be placed around the stream once the sanitation is completed to prevent it from becoming clogged with solid waste again.

This is stated by psychologist María de Los Santos, president of the Association of Health Psychologists (ASOPSALUD), noting that it is common to receive patients with emotional conditions in hospital consultations, manifested mainly in panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, social isolation, sleep disorder, depression, use and abuse of psychoactive substances, deep sadness, and suicide attempts.

She said that although cases of this nature have always attended the psychological services of health centers, currently or in the post-pandemic there has been a greater increase in emotional disorders since during the pandemic many people lost their jobs, and loved ones and they felt afraid of getting sick and not being able to seek financial support. “Now we are receiving more people with grief, grief in the Dominican population, people have little tolerance, they get irritated easily.”

The president of the Association of Health Psychologists said that in hospital consultation, especially in hospitalized patients who are going through a medical breakdown, there are frequent cases of mothers who become ill and are emotionally affected because they cannot afford the treatment and fear die and leave their young children alone. Many people believe that getting sick will affect the family economy or that they will not be able to enter the professional and productive world, which also leads them to depression.

I spent about eight hours in the Accident and Emergency Department at the hospital with a relative recently. Before me, my brother spent about 14 hours with the same relative and then another brother spent about five. Together, waiting with the relative, we spent almost 30 hours before she was seen by a doctor. I have heard of others who spent days waiting to be seen. 

There was a young woman there with a child. The boy she carried was unwell, and he vomited on the floor. It was a large amount. That vomit stayed there in full view and smell of those nearby and passers-by for over an hour before a worker came to clean it and I believe that this only occurred because I spoke to the Patient Advocate about the smell and this forced him to make a second call to the housekeeping department.

This is the hospital that taxpayers pay for and the treatment there is abominable. If the problem is staffing, then every effort must be made to get to the bottom of this crisis. It is totally unacceptable, shameful, insensitive and uncaring for people to go through this nonsense when they have to visit there. Despite whatever administration is in, this foolishness continues. People sat quietly waiting their turn whilst one lady vented her frustration. Some people die before getting treated. 

This is WRONG by any standard. We do not need nice sounding rhetoric about how to fix the problem. We want it fixed NOW. A modern hospital cannot operate at this rate for decades, whilst highly paid bureaucrats get paid for running an inefficient operation mandated to deal with the health of the majority of Black people in this country. Our social systems were set up to serve the people and this must be made to happen. Others can attest to the absolute poor attitude of some civil servants, who, at the end of the day, are inefficient but continue to underperform in their positions indefinitely. This needs to change NOW.

On another note, no pun intended, the banks are drunk and crazy. I went to a bank to do a transaction and wanted to use the drop box. When I realised that there were no envelopes to put the money in, I inquired about one and was told by a worker there that I had to bring my own envelope to expedite the transaction. Was her head good? To pay them their money? And the thing about it, is that there were boxes full of envelopes at various stations sitting idly by. I moved from one station to the next and was told the same garbage before one guy gave me one. It seems like the more we change, the more we remain the same. But we seem to like it so.

 Ian Marshall

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“31 countries have reported outbreaks, more widespread and lethal than normal, and the figure is 50% higher than in previous years,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, warned at a press conference in 2022.

Tedros emphasized that Haiti, Syria, and Malawi are among the most affected countries and that the simultaneous outbreaks have resulted in a vaccine shortage, prompting the international immunization coordination mechanism to reduce the doses administered to each patient. 

“Despite this unprecedented measure, stocks remain very low and production is at its maximum capacity,” Tedros lamented, urging countries that have recently experienced outbreaks to step up prevention of potential new infections.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

As we move into any New Year, one tradition is to make a New Year’s resolution. Some social marketing research shows that a majority of these resolutions focus on improving personal health, such as losing some weight, doing more exercise, and paying more attention to eating and drinking habits. Gym registrations traditionally spike in January, but quickly taper off. Coming after a long season of gorging on food and drinks, a health resolution is a good idea, but for many it’s too little too late. A better idea would perhaps be to set health resolutions at the start of the festive season; after all, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.  

In Barbados, the festive season seems to start around the middle of November, as our advertisers seem to merge Black Friday sales shopping, adopted from high-income countries, into Independence Day into Christmas and then New Year’s Day, to be shortly followed by Errol Barrow Day on January 21st. Through sales and other gimmicks, we are encouraged to ‘shop till you (or at least your money, including end-of-year bonuses) drop’ and generally fete, eat, drink and be merry. For too many people, this translates to about six to eight weeks of unbridled activity (while stocks and funds last). 

The food festivities start with Independence, with persons invited to sample as many conkies as possible to determine whose conkies, made with or without raisins, are the best. After ‘conkie season’, the Christmas season officially or unofficially starts: ham, stuffed turkey, jug-jug, black cake (often alcohol-infused) are washed down with sorrel, juices and a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. Mouth-watering desserts, including chocolates, sweets, biscuits and ice-creams, complete the feasts. The volumes of food and drink consumed are designed to keep our obesity figures as high as they are, in the top 20 of the world, and obese persons fuel our chronic non-communicable disease (CNDC) pandemic.

Therefore, we must reset our efforts at prevention and treatment of these CNDCs. Sure, many people behave like ‘one-day Christians’, who do many wrong things for six days a week, and on the seventh day suddenly remember the path to ‘health righteousness’. We have no shortage of speeches on the effect of the CNDCs on deaths, sickness and even the economy, in between a tsunami of advertisements that promote inappropriate health habits.

In the background, COVID-19 lurks. The pandemic may or may not be over, but the virus is still here. At a recent press conference, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer offered statistics to support a rising rate of documented COVID-19 infections on the island, even while admitting that fewer persons were coming forward for testing. Nonetheless, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) noted that there was a cessation of many of the official (‘mandatory’) COVID-19 protection measures from midnight the same day. This coincided with the day where the media were reporting and showing crowds of persons, mainly without masks, jamming into stores to take advantage of VAT-free
shopping. The media has also been showing crowds of un-masked persons enjoying various events, many of them indoors, apparently dismissive of the threat posed by COVID-19. It must be remembered that some people here remain unvaccinated, or have refused to get the booster shots. Vulnerable individuals, and this group includes the elderly and those harbouring CNDCs, are at increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.

Worldwide, in spite of best efforts, which include mitigation measures, vaccinations, specific medications like antiviral medications and monoclonal antibody treatments [neither of which we could easily afford here], COVID-19 still kills about one in one hundred persons who contract the disease, with a higher rate in vulnerable persons.

The ‘mantra’ of our Ministry of Health (MOH) over the last three decades has been “Your health is your responsibility”. Philosophy: great. Is it working with the CNDC pandemic? There is no statistical evidence to support this (so the CMO has stopped releasing annual statistics). Will it work with the COVID-19 pandemic? The MOH has cut back on releasing the COVID-19 dashboard (daily statistics), which allowed anyone interested to keep track of the pandemic here. Official statistics to follow what is happening here are harder to come by, but a rising COVID-19 rate is likely.

The resumption of Q in the Community, a monthly physical activity event aimed at getting the elderly to become more physically active, is a good thing. It unfortunately had to be stopped at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is not so good now is that a high proportion of our elderly have one or more CNDCs, and are thus vulnerable to a serious health outcome. It is perhaps unfortunate that the crowds of elderly persons coming out to this function have generally declined to wear face masks.

Internationally, we see COVID-19 is on the rise again, with the emergence of new variants of the Omicron strain, specifically the XBB.1.5 which is surging in China, far away, and in the USA, much closer to us. But this virus has shown that geographic distance is no barrier to its spread. Vaccination, the three Ws – not Weekes, Worrell and Walcott but Wash your hands, Wear your mask and Watch your (social) distance – offer some protection. While the CMO has relaxed many restrictions, it should still be the case that ‘your health is your responsibility’. Act now.

At one stage in life, we were fearful that a masked person may cause you harm, and many still do, when our crime situation is being looked at. But now, no thanks to COVID-19, we are also fearful that unmasked persons may cause you harm as well.

So our health focus needs to last longer than the first week of a New Year, as many New Year Resolutions do. The CNDCs have caused, and continue to cause, significant suffering and death, and have overwhelmed our health care services. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a disease, COVID-19 creates many health problems, but among other issues it makes the CNDCs worse, and actually accelerates the demise of many CNDC patients. And right now, another ‘virus’ has crippled our main hospital, making life and death even harder for anyone who becomes ill.

We must embrace healthy eating, get adequate amounts of both sleep and exercise, and make sure we keep our weight under control. In conjunction with your personal physician, we must ensure that your blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol are kept within your target range. “Thou shalt not smoke”, and if you must drink, practice moderation. Ensure that your COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date, and practise all COVID-19 prevention measures. Our resolution is to be healthy all year round.

Dr. Colin V. Alert, MB BS, DM. is a family physician and associate UWI family medicine lecturer.

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