On behalf of the Ministry of Social Development and the Shadow Board of the National Health Fund (NHF), I would like to take the opportunity to respond to the “Open Letter to the Minister of Health, Doctors Concerned about National Health Fund” which was published in The Anguillian on 27 July 2007.

In a letter dated 26 July--the day before the letter appeared in The Anguillian--the five concerned doctors, as well as one doctor who was not signatory to the letter, were invited to a meeting to be held 28 August to discuss the concerns outlined in their letter to the Minister and to discuss the status of the NHF implementation. While we recognize that this meeting was long overdue, as the doctors had written to the Honourable Minister of Health on 31 May 2007, the NHF committee and later the NHF Shadow Board were not idle in the interim.

Between the time that the doctors’ letter was received and the present, the committee and shadow board have been engaged in several key tasks critical to the implementation of the NHF. These tasks included recruiting of the Director for the NHF and finalizing contract negotiations, exploring the software and hardware systems necessary to run the NHF, identifying space for the NHF office, recruiting support staff, and the handing over of implementation duties from the NHF committee to the NHF Shadow Board. A five member Shadow Board has been appointed by Executive Council to work on the final phases of implementation. Once the NHF legislation is passed the Shadow Board will become the NHF Board. The Shadow Board members are Dr. Bonnie Richardson-Lake, Chair and representative of the Ministry of Health; Mrs. Gecheal Richardson-Gumbs, Project Manager and representative of the Ministry of Finance; Mr. Timothy Hodge, representative of the Social Security Board; Mr. Ian Ferguson, representative with board, business and finance experience; Mrs. Rhonda Connor representative of consumer interest.

The Shadow Board will be meeting with the concerned doctors next month, and would like to make the public aware that the doctors’ concerns—some of which are quite valid--have been fully considered and responses to each of these concerns will be shared in detail at the 28 August meeting. The Government of Anguilla (GoA) agrees whole-heartedly with what the doctors believe the basic tenets of the NHF should be and is committed to ensuring that these principles are upheld. Members of the NHF Committee, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance have attempted to communicate these principles through their consultations with all of the government ministries and departments, all statutory bodies, the Hotel and Tourism Association, and Cable & Wireless. In addition Ministers and members of the committee have appeared on three radio talk shows—Health Matters, Talk Your Mind and Social Solutions to discuss the philosophy behind the NHF and the services which will be offered under the Fund. While there has been considerable public consultation on the NHF, the Shadow Board will continue to roll this consultation out to the wider community in the coming months. Interested persons can also go to the government website at www.gov.ai to review the draft NHF legislation and to view a brief overview of the NHF project.

The Government of Anguilla is committed to keeping the dialogue with the physicians open. It is only through mutual respect and cooperation that we can provide the people of Anguilla with a high-quality, cost effective health care system.

Sincerely,

Dr. Bonnie Richardson-Lake
Chair of the NHF Shadow Board (on behalf of the Ministry of Social Development and the NHF Shadow Board)

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