Health minister getting terrible advice, says Miller
The independent MLA for North Side, Ezzard Miller, said during the budget debate Thursday that the health minister is getting terrible advice from senior officials in his ministry.
The former opposition leader raised a catalogue of problems with healthcare provision in the Eastern Districts and urged the minister to get better advice and change his approach. Miller said there is currently very little healthcare in his constituency and none at all for the elderly.
Always ready to offer alternative solutions to government for the things he criticises, Miller’s contribution to the 2020/21 Budget was no different. In particular, he urged Health Minister Dwayne Seymour to rethink the idea of rebuilding a mini-hospital in Bodden Town, saying it was medical staff and services the Eastern Districts needed, not a new building.
Miller outlined a number of serious shortcomings with the provision of health services in North Side and East End and raised concerns that, once again, the health minister was going down the wrong road in an effort to address the many problems.
The North Side MLA said that the minister had already wasted public funds on trying to create a SHIC health insurance plan for senior citizens, which Miller had specifically warned was a waste of time. His advice had been ignored but now the ministry had abandoned the idea, after spending tens of thousands of dollars on consultants, having learned that they could not get an affordable premium, just as Miller had predicted.
“You need sensible advice,” Miler declared, as he urged the minister to reconsider what he warned would be another wrong move over the mini-hospital. He said it would cost much more money that improving provision at the existing clinics in the Eastern Districts. Miller urged the minister to use the money to hire nurses and doctors so the health authority can offer 24/7 services at Bodden Town and open the clinic in North Side for more than two afternoons per week.
Speaking directly to Seymour, Miller said he was worried that there was no one in the health ministry “capable of advising you and you are really getting bad advice”. He added, “It’s services we need Mr Minister… not buildings!”
He urged the ministry to look at providing outpatient and preventative care, as well as in-home care, and not another building people that his elderly constituents in North Side cannot get to.
Miller also raised a number of queries about major projects, urging the ministry to once again explain what had happened during the bidding process for the waste management project and exactly where things were now. He raised concerns that during the contract negotiations the price tag for the project has already increased by more than $35 million from the original tender, and urged government to explain what is happening.
He raised his concerns again about the port project which he has persistently opposed. Miller spoke about a number of technical challenges and questions the cruise piers and their safety that no one seemed to be able to answer. “My concern with the port is that we are not getting the full story,” he said.
He also challenged government’s fundamental position that the cargo project will cut shipping costs. Following a recent conversation with a prominent member of the container shipping industry here, he said the premier needed to talk with the sector because they had no intention of cutting any costs, no matter how big the port becomes.
Miller warned that if government was promising the public a cut in prices because of an expanded port, it was going to have to be government’s own list of fees that were cut because the shippers were not cutting costs. He warned that there was no case where bigger ships have ever led to lower costs and warned government that it was not going to be able to fulfill the promise of cutting the cost of living with a larger cargo dock.
In his near two hour debate Miller offered his support to the government for the constitutional changes and urged all MLAs to educate their constituents on the benefits of the changes. He also stood firm on his support for introducing civil unions, even though such support could see him lose his seat. Miller urged the churches to find some tolerance so the Legislative Assembly and not the UK could control the legislation.
Always ready to offer alternative solutions to government for the things he criticises, Miller’s contribution to the 2020/21 Budget was no different. In particular, he urged Health Minister Dwayne Seymour to rethink the idea of rebuilding a mini-hospital in Bodden Town, saying it was medical staff and services the Eastern Districts needed, not a new building.
Miller outlined a number of serious shortcomings with the provision of health services in North Side and East End and raised concerns that, once again, the health minister was going down the wrong road in an effort to address the many problems.
The North Side MLA said that the minister had already wasted public funds on trying to create a SHIC health insurance plan for senior citizens, which Miller had specifically warned was a waste of time. His advice had been ignored but now the ministry had abandoned the idea, after spending tens of thousands of dollars on consultants, having learned that they could not get an affordable premium, just as Miller had predicted.
“You need sensible advice,” Miler declared, as he urged the minister to reconsider what he warned would be another wrong move over the mini-hospital. He said it would cost much more money that improving provision at the existing clinics in the Eastern Districts. Miller urged the minister to use the money to hire nurses and doctors so the health authority can offer 24/7 services at Bodden Town and open the clinic in North Side for more than two afternoons per week.
Speaking directly to Seymour, Miller said he was worried that there was no one in the health ministry “capable of advising you and you are really getting bad advice”. He added, “It’s services we need Mr Minister… not buildings!”
He urged the ministry to look at providing outpatient and preventative care, as well as in-home care, and not another building people that his elderly constituents in North Side cannot get to.
Miller also raised a number of queries about major projects, urging the ministry to once again explain what had happened during the bidding process for the waste management project and exactly where things were now. He raised concerns that during the contract negotiations the price tag for the project has already increased by more than $35 million from the original tender, and urged government to explain what is happening.
He raised his concerns again about the port project which he has persistently opposed. Miller spoke about a number of technical challenges and questions the cruise piers and their safety that no one seemed to be able to answer. “My concern with the port is that we are not getting the full story,” he said.
He also challenged government’s fundamental position that the cargo project will cut shipping costs. Following a recent conversation with a prominent member of the container shipping industry here, he said the premier needed to talk with the sector because they had no intention of cutting any costs, no matter how big the port becomes.
Miller warned that if government was promising the public a cut in prices because of an expanded port, it was going to have to be government’s own list of fees that were cut because the shippers were not cutting costs. He warned that there was no case where bigger ships have ever led to lower costs and warned government that it was not going to be able to fulfill the promise of cutting the cost of living with a larger cargo dock.
In his near two hour debate Miller offered his support to the government for the constitutional changes and urged all MLAs to educate their constituents on the benefits of the changes. He also stood firm on his support for introducing civil unions, even though such support could see him lose his seat. Miller urged the churches to find some tolerance so the Legislative Assembly and not the UK could control the legislation.
