CONSTRUCTION of a specialist centre for diabetics will begin in January.
Word of this comes from Dr Oscar Jordan, chairman of the Barbados Diabetes Foundation, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day Diabetes Global Village Expo at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Friday.
The centre is expected to provide holistic care for people with diabetes. Jordan said a team from the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston was in Barbados to advise on the mechanics of the facility.
He made a public request of Minister of Health Donville Inniss, who delivered the feature address, to make intercessions to the Minister of Finance for the waiving of value added tax, which should help “expedite” the building process.
The constraints in the economy notwithstanding, Inniss said he would do what he could in terms of assisting the foundation with that request.
The minister noted that the cost of medicines for the treatment of diabetes and other chronic non-communicable diseases continued to be a “huge undertaking” and that medication for diabetics remained intact after the changes at the Barbados Drug Service.
“Rest assured we have not been reckless with our policies or programmes in the Ministry of Health and I am satisfied that essential medicines for diabetics remain very much an integral part of the Barbados Drug Formulary.
“Our changes to the Barbados Drug Service over the past few months have already begun to show signs of success in terms of reduction in our expenditure, without compromising the quality of health care provided to Barbadians,” Inniss said.
Over the two days diabetics and members of the public were exposed to nutritionists and other resource people who have all the products and provide all the services to ensure diabetics a quality life. Advice was shared on a wide variety of topics pertaining to health care for diabetics, including foods, shoes, massages and fitness.
Doctors and other consultants were also on hand for group and one-on-one sessions with patrons and there were also cooking demonstrations and aerobic/dance classes at intervals.
Plus, for the first time in the five years the expo has been held, there was a medical symposium. (YB)