Health in Barbados
All Barbadian citizens are covered by universal health care at polyclinics and one general hospital. Barbados was placed 37th of 187 countries surveyed, in theHuman Development Index.According to the 2019 World Bank Data, the life expectancy at birth in Barbados was 79 for men and 82 for women.
History
[edit]American PresidentGeorge Washingtonaccompanied his brotherLawrenceto Barbados to help him recover from a bout of tuberculosis in the warm climate of the island in 1751. While there George contractedsmallpox.[1]
Healthcare
[edit]Expenditure on health per capita in 2014 was $1,014, 7.5% of GDP.[2]The country has above the average ratio of health care professionals to population.[3]
All Barbadian citizens are covered byUniversal health care.Barbados has eightpolyclinicsthroughout the country, 5 Geriatric hospitals for care of the elderly, and a network of Child Care facilities, in addition to the mainQueen Elizabeth Hospital(General Hospital) located in Bridgetown.[4]
There are private medical clinics, including the Sandy Crest Medical Centre on the west coast, and the FMH Emergency Medical Clinic, just outsideBridgetown.
TheBarbados Psychiatric Hospitalis located in Black Rock,Bridgetown.
TheMinistry of Health & Wellnessalso operates theBarbados Drug Servicewhich provides a pharmacy service for the island.[5]
In 2011, the Government of Barbados signed amemorandum of understandingto lease its 22 acres (8.9 ha) Saint Joseph Hospital site to the Denver, Colorado-based America World Clinics (now Traverse Global Healthcare). Under the deal, the group will use Barbados as one of its main destinations formedical tourismat that facility.[citation needed]The government also announced it would begin constructing a new $900 million state-of-the-art hospital to replace the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- "Health systems in Barbados".commonwealthhealth.org.
- Thompson, Rhonda, ed. (10 July 2010)."EDITORIAL: Drug Service costs must be cut".Commentary. The Daily Nation (Barbados).Retrieved7 April2021.
References
[edit]- ^James Thomas Flexner (1974).Washington: The Indispensable Man.p.8.
- ^"Barbados".WHO. 2016.Retrieved15 November2018.
- ^"Barbados Government Fighting to Keep Nurses from Migrating".Caribbean 360. 23 October 2018.Retrieved15 November2018.
- ^"Health in Barbados".Barbados.org.Retrieved15 November2018.
- ^"Barbados Health Care".Totally Barbados. 2018.Retrieved15 November2018.