Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is calling on health and cancer association officials to put more effort into making the lives of those diagnosed with cancer somewhat more bearable.
“I get the sense sometimes that we simply send them home to die,” he stated, as he addressed the launching ceremony for the new Strategic Plan for Health at the Fort Young Hotel yesterday.
He added: “I am calling on the Ministry of Health and the cancer association to read, as a matter of urgency, and advise the government on some of the actions we can take to help make the years that our citizens have among us…be a peaceful one with less hassle and concern about how do we pay for the treatment.
“I’ve seen 80-year-olds who’ve had breast cancer, and if you send an 80-year-old who has had breast cancer and surgery home, you know, the sheer psychological pressure on this person; instead of staying with us for another 15 or 20 years the person would die within a matter of months. So I’m putting it before us that what can we do to make the lives of those suffering with cancer a little more bearable while they’re with us?”
Mr.Prime Miniser it is long over due, cancer patients are sent home with no supervision for their conditions. Dominica desperately need a hospice program this is going to help the families, friends and the patient them selves get comfortable to go through that sad period in their lives. Please take a good look at that.
I quite agree with the Prime Minister’s call for more attention to be given to cancer patients. There is clearly an increase in cancer cases on the island among both men and women. There is need for greater awareness about cancers and there causes and the things we can do to inhibit the growth and spread of this non communicable disease.
I believe our lifestyle and eating habits are a major cause for the increase in the rate of cancer on the island. We need to take our health and well being more seriously. There is need to promote more active lifestyles in the area of physical exercise and sports. We also need to change our diet and eating habits by eating more fruits, vegetables, and fish and less processed foods and fatty foods. We need to manage our stress levels and be more relaxed, get more and adequate rest, and don’t get caught up in the ever increasing fast pace lifestyle that some of us are quickly adopting.
See what happens???
Your suggestions are interesting but simplistic at best.Poor and ignorant saying their 5cents piece.
If Skerrit is honest and not using cheap issues for solace and support, then he should own up on the Villas and offer to donate all monies made at the Villas (when he has accepted)go to treat cancer sufferes or maybe he can will donate his Villas as housing and a half way home for the sick.
Then and only then he’d be serious.
FROM PATAT
But, but, but… Mr. PM you reminding me of d late PM Douglas, your very good friend and relative. Can you remember the very first Budget in 2000? Rosie did wash his hand and did say as Prime Minister how he doh like d budget!!! But Rosie was not d Minister of Finance at least. You are the Minister for Finance so you so doh have no excuse!!!!
You need to spend more time crafting a proper vision for Dominica and its many stakeholders and look at the bigger picture and formulate a comprehensive National Budget and then your statements would go down well with the public where you can then pontificate and articulate your Administration’s Policies by stating with pride the inclusion of resources to take care of cancer patients and further strengthening the enabling environment for more to be done.
I am beginning to see a PM that is exhibiting symptoms of preoccupation with personal matters disproportionate to that of matters of State!!!
Please wake up and get a hold of yourself and do the job people like me put you there to do
YOU DESERVE A LANG PATAT FOR YOUR CONSTANT DONKEY YOU WRITE HERE. WHAT AN ARSE
what you are saying is so true Mr PM,my grandma was just diagnose with lung cancer and even if she might not have too long here with us i would like to know and make sure that the time that she is here she will be well taken care of and not ignored or be sent home to die,i want to make sure that everything is done to keep her here as long as we can,so who ever it is that has that mentality that cancer patients should be sent home to die they better prepare to be at war with me because no one is sending my grandma home to die she is a human being and she will be treated as one,everything will be done to save her life until god calls her home.
that is true mr pm,,,,,well i think that is something we can all agree on,,,now i believe the ministry of health should set an initiative on getting the right machines available to the hospitals,,,our problem is that our doctors are qualified but not well equipped so they basically do with what they can,,,at this time in our independence we should be further in the options available to us when it comes to health,,,,is like d/ca not the place u can fall sick,,,,once u fall sick is a count down to ur deathbed n that’s wrong,,,,at least make a 25 million budget available to take care of our health,,,n i don’t mean another new hospital,,,i mean more up to date machinery,,,for open heart surgery,,for chemo-therapy,,,for brain surgery,,,,since dominica is kind of lacking people specialised in these then maybe our ross graduates can find employment on an apprentice scheme,,,,,this would motivate our young people to go out n get the necessary qualifications etc,,, that’s just my 2 cents
Why don’t you put the emphasis on prevention. There are too many contaminated food sources being imported into DA as well as those crops produced here using toxic chemicals.
That is the place to start.
Cancer is a man created disease and a money making billion dollar racket. Cancer was extremely rare in 1900 and now it is extremely common. Figure it out.
It is a designer disease meant to kill off people.
But, but, but… Mr. PM you reminding me of d late PM Douglas, your very good friend and relative. Can you remember the very first Budget in 2000? Rosie did wash his hand and did say as Prime Minister how he doh like d budget!!! But Rosie was not d Minister of Finance at least. You are the Minister for Finance so you so doh have no excuse!!!!
You need to spend more time crafting a proper vision for Dominica and its many stakeholders and look at the bigger picture and formulate a comprehensive National Budget and then your statements would go down well with the public where you can then pontificate and articulate your Administration’s Policies by stating with pride the inclusion of resources to take care of cancer patients and further strengthening the enabling environment for more to be done.
I am beginning to see a PM that is exhibiting symptoms of preoccupation with personal matters disproportionate to that of matters of State!!!
Please wake up and get a hold of yourself and do the job people like me put you there to do
Mr. Prime Minister thats a very good idea, my father died of cancer not too long ago and the way he was treated was , to go home and die. There were no counselling for us the children and no one ever told the children that he really had cancer.
We the children just assume because of what he told us. Its heart breaking.
This is a very good thing Pm. You are so right that as long as u have cancer sometimes they are not sure is cancer, they just give up on you and leave you to die. It is pathetic. Just recently there was a survey by University of the West Indies on HIV/AIDs in the caribbean, It would be good if Govt would take the initiate and conduct a similar survey on Cancer in Dominica.
I do hope that this suggestion will taken seriously.