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Rice-Bowen:
Health care for elderly lacking
Barbados
Advocate, West Indies May
14, 2003 HEALTH care for
the elderly in Barbados is being saddled with inefficiency and shortages
of critical supplies. That’s according to Marilyn Rice-Bowen, the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) candidate for St. Michael West-Central, speaking during a political meeting at Free Hill, Black Rock last night. She said some health workers at some health institutions have had to carry to work items such as soap and seasoning to properly carry out their daily duties. “At the Geriatric hospital, there is no hot water for laundering the clothes, and as a result, clothes and the linen must be taken down to the Mental (Psychiatric Hospital) to be laundered and brought back. “This is totally unacceptable in this country, and these are our senior citizens; citizens who gave yeoman service to this country, and because of circumstances, have found themselves at the mercy of the Government, and rather than be treated special, they are being forgotten.” Rice-Bowen also told the crowd that she recently received calls from health aides, who claimed they are not being paid. She also said that Barbadians are forced to “beg for care” under the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration. Touching on some of the DLP’s promises in the health sector, Rice-Bowen said the party intends to open a hospital in the north of the island to be named in honour of late former Governor-General, Dame Nita Barrow. “This hospital will cater to accident and emergency, long-term care and recuperation,” she said. “We will, in our first 100 days of office, enforce the silent zone around the hospital, starting with a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. restriction of traffic in front of the QEH,” she promised. She also stated that the DLP intends to decentralise the ambulance service, along with acquiring more ambulances for the existing fleet. She also said that protective clothing and other necessary gear would be provided for Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) workers. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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