Health minister clarifies new hospital fees

video
play-sharp-fill
03:16
Dr Duane Sands.

A leaked memo from the Public Hospital’s Authority (PHA) purportedly shows the government preparing to implement paid transportation services for dialysis patients at a weekly charge of $150.

That idea did not sit well with the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) which demanded the government reverse the policy.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Englerston Glenys Hanna Martin called the memo unconscionable and accused the government of “becoming brutish and bitter for those at the bottom of the economic pile in the country.”

However, Health Minister, Dr. Duane Sands says with the government spending an average of $23 million a year servicing 463 dialysis patients at the Rand Memorial and Princess Margaret Hospital’s, paying for a car service is not a priority.