ST. LUCIA-Government says healthcare in St. Lucia is “extremely expensive”.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Feb 18, CMC – Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre says health care in St. Lucia “is extremely expensive” as the island launched a new initiative aimed at building a modern, accessible, and sustainable healthcare system for its citizens.

Pierre told the launch of the St. Lucia Universal Health Coverage (SLUHC) “Bon Santé Pou Tout.” (Good Health for everybody) initiative that last year, the government spent an estimated EC$200 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) on the health care. In preparing this year’s national budget, two hospitals submitted requests for additional funding totaling more than EC$70 million.

Pierre told the ceremony that the Health and Citizen Security Levy will provide an estimated EC$45 million this year. The government introduced a 2.5 per cent levy on August 2, 2023, on imported goods and specific services to the UHC and security improvements. The levy applies to the CIF value of imported goods and to VAT-registered services, excluding items like basic food, pharmaceuticals, and certain exempt services.

“That is direct taxation, the health and security levy will bring to this country,” he said, adding that the figure cannot provide for what one of the hospitals had requested this year in additional funding.

“Health care is expensive and I can tell you I believe that health care in St. Lucia is 90 per cent free,” he said, adding “we have to find a way to cause healthcare to be affordable, to be equitable and to be reachable… that is the purpose of the Universal Health Care and this is all what the government wants to do.

“So this process has just started…we pledge the resources of the state within the fiscal realities of what we can afford, what we can do,” Pierre said, adding that currently the government is owed “nearly, conservatively about EC$200 million in taxes.

“If I could have collected half of that, I would not have any problems,” he said, adding that citizens need to understand that “they have to pay their fair share of taxes so everyone can benefit”.

He also urged citizens to take personal responsibility for their health, eat a healthy diet, and exercise regularly.

Health Minister Moses Jn Baptiste confirmed that the government is moving towards establishing a Universal Health Coverage Authority, pledging to end years of stalled plans.

He told the launch of the new SLUHC website, which officials say will help the public track policies, receive emergency alerts, and access enrolment notices, that draft legislation to formalise the new authority is already advanced, with the ministry working alongside the Attorney General’s Chambers and other stakeholders before presenting the bill to Cabinet.

He acknowledged the exasperation among healthcare workers who have seen successive administrations promise comprehensive coverage but fail to deliver it.

“I want to tell you, we are going to put a stop to the tiredness. We will go to Parliament… “It’s not going to be easy,” he told the crowd at the ceremony.

SLUHC Director Alisha Eugene-Ford said that since its rollout in 2022, the UHC programme has delivered thousands of free services, including antenatal care for more than 3,400 pregnant women, cervical cancer screenings for over 5,500 women, and men’s health consultations for more than 1,600 patients.

Additional initiatives have provided breast cancer screenings, snakebite treatment, and other critical interventions.