Prof Karl Theodore: Invest in making healthcare efficient

While covid19 shocked many healthcare systems around the world, including Trinidad and Tobago’s, UWI Prof Emeritus Karl Theodore is warning that the pandemic will not be the last of its kind.

As such, he is calling for greater investments to to make TT’s healthcare system more efficient.

Theodore made the call while speaking at the inaugural virtual Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) post-budget forum on Friday.

Of all the major allocations in the 2022 budget, health received $6.395 billion which was $335 million more than the 2021 allocation of $6.050 billion.

But even as the country spends more money on health, Theodore said there must be an improvement in the efficiency of procedures in the healthcare system

“We spend that money, but we know that the degree of efficiency is not what it really should be.

“What we know is that there are reviews that have been done which point to there being a high degree of dissatisfaction (in the healthcare system).

“As far as our emergency centres are concerned, people are waiting long for their surgeries and waiting long to get their tests.”

Apart from improving procedures at health centres and hospitals, Theodore will also like to see the implementation of a robust social health insurance.

He said there have been promises to implement such a system but they haven’t been brought to fruition.

“What really is social health insurance? It is a national pool of funds that working people put into, business people put into and the government put into.

“This pool is now going to cover everybody’s health. When the social health insurance arrives, it must also be complemented with a health information system.”

Noting that several studies have shown that efficient healthcare systems are vital to vibrant economies, Theodore said covid19 has only provided further proof of this.

“The social insurance is something that is good not just for the health system but also the economy of the country because it is the thing that will help get the morbidity level of the country lower than it is.

“Morbidity is the enemy of the GDP…you cannot have a population of people that are either very sick because the GDP is not going to grow.

“If it is one thing we’ve learnt from covid is that health and the economy are closely related. I like to say health cradles the economy.

“If the health of the population is in trouble, then the economy is going to be in trouble.”