I am writing this in a rush, and I expect to suffer some flak for doing so, but I decided it was necessary to get the information out there. Earlier this week I recieved a tip-off about Dr. Brown purchasing land on the South Shore with the intention of building a new private medical clinic. My informant also put forward the idea that this was connected to the idea of closing the Indigent Clinic, with the basic argument that if ones visit is paid for by the government, why not go to a private clinic that has the ability to do everything that the Indigent Clinic could do? – and that only Dr. Brown’s existing clinic and this new one would be able to do just that.
I didn’t want to believe it. I closed my ears to it and said, naw, thats got to be opposition disinformation/psychological warfare propaganda. I had heard rumours to the effect all weekend, but this informant I trusted. And I have now confirmed that there is an application to planning by Dr. Brown to build a clinic on South Shore. I am sure that the newspapers have picked up on this as well, and will have more information than I have.
Now, flat out I am opposed to privatising health care. Private companies, no matter what their product (supermarkets, restuarants, hotels, private health clinics) the only thing they exist for is to produce private profit. If they perform a service or produce a useful commodity, that is only a means to an end of producing private profit. Under a public system, as burdened as they are by the capitalist mentality evident in the corporate governance management style as seen currently in the Bermuda Hospital Board or other public institutions (with the added zero based budgeting that mimics the private systems emphasis on cost cutting, which in the private sphere aims to maximise profit, in the public sphere to minimise cost/budgets), at least the aim of the publicly owned system is still to serve the function of providing, say, education or healthcare. I have serious concerns with the track records of privatisation, especially of healthcare as seen elsewhere. The example of the British NHS is excellent, with the public system being sabotaged since Thatcher through budget cuts and the implementation of corporate governance and ‘modern’ management, reducing the quality of care there relative to private clinics. However, as stated, private clinics exist to produce a profit, not necessarily to ensure ones health. The probable result of this is that the Government (the tax-payers) will pay for the transport and healthcare of the current patients of the Indigent/Medical Clinic, with the profit going to private hands.
I still need to do more research on the problems of privatisation, and I do not have all the details of what is going on. What I can say is that I do not think what is happening is right. Just as Blair is more the true heir of Thatcher in the UK, it will not be long, if the current trend continues, before Dr. Brown will be seen as the true heir of John Swan.
Apart from anything else, isn’t this a good reason for MPs and Premiers especially, to divorce themselves from their business while serving the people? I believe all the UBP Premiers gave up their day jobs and put their investments in trust so that they could not be accused of any self-serving practices. Maybe Premier Brown has done the same, and his business associates are behind this move of setting up a new clinic. The point is, we just don’t know.
I do think that we will see in the coming period a move towards a more rational parliamentary system, with full-time MPs. I also think that Dr. Brown is a full-time Premier, and that he probably has very little hands on actions with his private clinic at the moment, but I cannot say that for sure. I just find him to be really busy, and so I’m not sure if he can find the time to be involved with his clinic. Could be wrong of course. I recall an article in the Party Line by Freddie Wade where he was talking about the John Swan McDonald controversy. He stated there that “While it was not illegal, it is improper and Government members have to be seen to behave in a manner which is above board and fair.” I think that that quote is quite relevant to the case in hand. Whats going on may very well be quite legit, but the way things are being handled makes it appear otherwise. One of my main beefs is that the Premier says he wants to give people a choice, in reference to the Indigent/Medical Clinic. But the way it is being presented he is actually removing the choice by closing the clinic and forcing the people to go to private clinics. Basically, I just don’t know what the plan is, and I would like to know, and I hope it isn’t about privatising healthcare and profiteering.
For information on private healthcare check out http://stanleyfeldmdmace.typepad.com/ and there are a number of other good discussions on Brad Delong and other’s blogs. It does not take a Marxist to see that at the very least the American private healthcare system is inferior to the public systems of many other countries. However, I think that given the lack of accountability and efficiency in our government on the whole we in Bermuda can be best served by private business – although needless to say that on the doctor/hospital/patient/clinic level there are potentially market failures relating to private for-profit healtcare. The real story here is the apparently self-serving and corrupt behaviour by the Premier. If only Freddy Wade was alive to keep politicians honest.
We in Bermuda are very likely protected from the worst abuses of private insurnace companies since the small size of the market gives them a very good reason to be fair or face crippling negative press.
I hope Mr Trevor Moniz will keep up his questioning of Dr Brown’s position. He should not be put off by Dr Brown’s fobbing-off of criticism, by belittling/ridiculing the questioner. If Dr Brown wants to be seen to be independent, then he should not be afraid to answer the questions in detail.
I was wondering why there was no follow-up from anybody following the article in the Mid Ocean News two and a half weeks ago.
Also, I have a couple of questions about the 6 doctors that he says have agreed to service the former “indigent” clinic patients. Who are these six doctors? And how many doctors work at Bermuda Healthcare Services?